Iran’s new Supreme Leader hasn’t been seen in public since the start of the strikes from the United States and Israel, leading to Iranians pledging their loyalty to a cardboard cutout of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Khamenei, 56, became Iran’s Supreme Leader after U.S. and Israeli forces launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28. Not one public appearance has been made — not a speech, not a video address, or a message from a hidden bunker. Iranian state television referred to Mojtaba this week with the term “janbaz jang,” a designation normally reserved for military officers who’ve been wounded in combat.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement Monday pledging their allegiance to Mojtaba. “We are ready to fully obey and devote the divine orders of the Supreme Leader of the time, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, and to preserve the values of the Islamic Revolution,” the IRGC said, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
Israeli intelligence sources told the Jerusalem Post roughly the same thing, that Khamenei was wounded and in hiding. Similarly, Iran’s Ambassador to Cyprus, Alireza Salarian, told the UK Guardian, “He was also there and he was injured in that bombardment but I haven’t seen that reflected in the foreign news.” He added, “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.”
Israel had previously vowed to eliminate whoever succeeded Ayatollah Khamenei, and Israeli officials have categorized Mojtaba as a hardline figure expected to continue his father’s hostilities.
