New claim on Mojtaba Khamenei: ‘Pulled from rubble’ after Tehran hospital strike
Iranian cleric says the Supreme Leader was rescued from a bombed Tehran hospital and was unaware he had been chosen as Iran’s leader until the announcement
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was reportedly “pulled from the rubble” of a Tehran hospital after US and Israeli strikes hit the medical facility where he was being treated for injuries sustained in an earlier attack, according to a New York Times report.
Hospital strike
Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, made the claim in an interview with Qatari television network Al Araby. According to Heydari, Khamenei was initially injured in the February 28 strikes that killed his father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei was subsequently taken to a hospital in Tehran. Heydari said US and Israeli forces later targeted three hospitals in the capital, with Khamenei inside the third facility when it was struck.
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“Even after he had been wounded and taken to the hospital, three hospitals in Tehran were bombed,” Heydari said, according to the New York Post. “Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble.”
The claim has not been independently verified.
Conflicting reports
Khamenei’s health has remained the subject of conflicting reports since the February strikes. US President Donald Trump had earlier said the Iranian leader was alive but “very seriously wounded”, with extensive injuries to the left side of his body, including his arm and leg.
Other reports have claimed that Khamenei remains in a highly secure intensive care unit at Tehran’s Sina Hospital.
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Iranian officials, however, have maintained that Khamenei is in good health. President Masoud Pezeshkian has described him as “completely healthy” and said the two held a seven-hour meeting in August.
Iran has also continued to issue written statements in Khamenei’s name. His absence from public view has been attributed by officials to heightened security measures and fears of an assassination attempt.
Secret selection
Heydari also provided details about the process through which Khamenei was selected as Iran’s Supreme Leader on March 8, following the death of his father.
The Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for selecting the Supreme Leader, was itself reportedly targeted during the strikes. The New York Post reported that its Qom secretariat was bombed, killing eight people and destroying documents containing reports and recommendations related to the selection process.
Heydari said members of the Assembly later recorded their votes on paper before being summoned to a secret room for the selection. He said he was the first member to propose Mojtaba Khamenei’s name.
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According to Heydari, Khamenei did not know he had been selected until the announcement was broadcast on Iranian state television.
‘Man of shadows’
Heydari described Khamenei as a “man of the shadows”, saying he had not held an official political position before becoming Supreme Leader, although he had served as an adviser to his father.
The latest account adds to the uncertainty surrounding Khamenei’s health and whereabouts, with Iranian officials insisting he is healthy while reports from US and other sources have described serious injuries.