Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was injured in the 28 February attack that killed six of his family members, including his father, Tehran’s ambassador to Cyprus has confirmed. In an interview at his embassy compound in Nicosia, Alireza Salarian said Khamenei, 56, was lucky to survive the strike, which levelled the late ayatollah’s residence.
“He was also there and he was injured in that bombardment but I haven’t seen that reflected in the foreign news,” Salarian told the Guardian. “I have heard that he was injured in his legs and hand and arm … I think he is in the hospital because he is injured.” Explaining why the cleric had not appeared in public since succeeding his father on Sunday, he added: “I don’t think he is comfortable [in any condition] to give a speech.”
The attack occurred on the opening day of US-led airstrikes against Iran, when the presidential complex in Tehran was targeted. It was the 10th day of Ramadan, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was at his residence with several family members, including Mojtaba’s wife, Zahra, and his teenage son, Mohammad Bagher, who were also killed. Iranian media reports suggested that Ali Khamenei’s wife, Mansour, died three days after the strike.
“The [late] supreme leader was killed with his wife, with his daughter, with his son-in-law and with his daughter’s 14-month-old baby,” said Salarian, who was in Iran when the offensive began. “Top commanders were also killed as they were also invited.” Earlier this week, Iranian state TV described the new leader as a “wounded veteran of the Ramadan war” but did not specify his injuries.
The US president, Donald Trump, called Mojtaba Khamenei’s election “an unacceptable choice”, adding: “He is not going to last long.” Israel has warned it will not hesitate to assassinate the cleric, thought to be as hardline as his father. Western intelligence services believe the new leader is being deliberately kept out of the public eye for fear of an assassination attempt.
Salarian said the late ayatollah had not wanted his son to replace him, but after the attack, top-ranking clergymen told Mojtaba: “This is your job; you have to obey.” The ambassador also estimated that the death toll from the war in Iran had reached 1,400 by Tuesday, with around half of Tehran’s 14 million population fleeing the city due to bombardment.
