A senior Iranian cleric has claimed that Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was pulled from the rubble of a Tehran hospital after US and Israeli strikes hit the building where he was recovering, in remarks that add to the mystery over the leader's fate.
The claim was made by Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, in an interview with Qatari channel Al Araby, first reported by the New York Post and carried by Indian Express on September 28.
The claim
According to Heydari, Khamenei had been wounded in earlier attacks and taken to hospital, after which three hospitals in Tehran were bombed. "Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble," he said. The New York Post reported that the hospitals were hit in the days after the war began on February 28, when US-Israeli strikes targeted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Tehran compound, killing the 86-year-old supreme leader and dozens of top officials.
Heydari did not give a date for the hospital strikes. The cleric said the 56-year-old Khamenei was later moved to an undisclosed location and has not been seen or heard in public since.
Unconfirmed
Crucially, the account has not been confirmed by the United States, Israel or the Iranian government, and no independent source has corroborated it. Public accounts of Khamenei's condition diverge sharply.
US intelligence assessments have suggested he suffered severe facial injuries. US President Donald Trump said last month he believes Khamenei is alive but badly wounded: "The left side of his body was seriously hurt." Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, by contrast, told Fox News this week that Khamenei is "completely" healthy and that they had met for about seven hours last month.
The succession vote
Heydari also described the secret March 8 succession vote. With the Assembly of Experts' Qom secretariat bombed, killing eight people according to the cleric, members wrote their votes on paper in an undisclosed room. Khamenei won 50 of 59 votes, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi received eight, and one member abstained. Heydari said he was the first to propose Khamenei's name.
Sources:
Indian Express: Mojtaba Khamenei 'pulled from the rubble' after Tehran hospital was bombed, cleric claims
NDTV: Mojtaba Pulled From Rubble After Surviving 2nd US Strike: Cleric's Big Claim
The claim was made by Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, in an interview with Qatari channel Al Araby, first reported by the New York Post and carried by Indian Express on September 28.
The claim
According to Heydari, Khamenei had been wounded in earlier attacks and taken to hospital, after which three hospitals in Tehran were bombed. "Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble," he said. The New York Post reported that the hospitals were hit in the days after the war began on February 28, when US-Israeli strikes targeted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Tehran compound, killing the 86-year-old supreme leader and dozens of top officials.
Heydari did not give a date for the hospital strikes. The cleric said the 56-year-old Khamenei was later moved to an undisclosed location and has not been seen or heard in public since.
Unconfirmed
Crucially, the account has not been confirmed by the United States, Israel or the Iranian government, and no independent source has corroborated it. Public accounts of Khamenei's condition diverge sharply.
US intelligence assessments have suggested he suffered severe facial injuries. US President Donald Trump said last month he believes Khamenei is alive but badly wounded: "The left side of his body was seriously hurt." Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, by contrast, told Fox News this week that Khamenei is "completely" healthy and that they had met for about seven hours last month.
The succession vote
Heydari also described the secret March 8 succession vote. With the Assembly of Experts' Qom secretariat bombed, killing eight people according to the cleric, members wrote their votes on paper in an undisclosed room. Khamenei won 50 of 59 votes, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi received eight, and one member abstained. Heydari said he was the first to propose Khamenei's name.
Sources:
Indian Express: Mojtaba Khamenei 'pulled from the rubble' after Tehran hospital was bombed, cleric claims
NDTV: Mojtaba Pulled From Rubble After Surviving 2nd US Strike: Cleric's Big Claim
