Tehran:
Amid suspense over the whereabouts of Iran’s new supreme leader, Iranian state media outlets have released what they claim was the first-ever video of Mojtaba Khamenei teaching religious studies to a group of students. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) claimed the footage was being released for the first time
The IRIB, however, did not provide details about when the video was shot, raising suspicion that it was an archived clip. In the video, Khamenei can be seen addressing a group of students in Arabic.
The 56-year-old cleric took over as Iran’s Supreme Leader after his father, Ali Khamenei, was assassinated in a US-Israeli strike on February 28. But he has remained out of the public eye since the start of the war, fuelling speculation about his health.
While Iranian media have said Mojtaba Khamenei has injured his leg in the strikes that also killed his wife and child, the US media have claimed he’s “disfigured” and might be in a coma. A Qatari media report also claimed he was in Moscow for treatment and recovering.
US President Donald Trump has also question Khamenei’s condition. Last week, he said, “We don’t know … if he’s dead or not. Nobody’s saying he’s 100% healthy… nobody’s seen him, which is unusual.”
But despite his absence from the public eye, the Supreme Leader has called for national unity in a statement and said the vital global artery of the Strait of Hormuz would continue to be closed to pressure Iran’s enemies.
On Wednesday, in a written message, he said the killers of security chief Ali Larijani, who died in an Israeli strike, “will have to pay for it”.
“Without a doubt, the assassination of such a figure attests to his importance and to the hatred that the enemies of Islam harbour toward him,” Mojtaba Khamenei said in a message published on his official Telegram channel on the day of Larijani’s funeral in Tehran.
“Every drop of spilt blood comes at a price, and the criminal murderers of these martyrs will soon have to pay it,” he added.
