Iran’s state television confirmed Monday that Mojtaba Khamenei, the country’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, has been wounded, acknowledging the injury just hours after officially recognizing him as the heir to his late father’s position.
The announcement came on Day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israel military campaign that began with a February 28 Israeli airstrike in Tehran that killed the previous Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his wife.
Iranian television anchors referred to Mojtaba as “janbaz,” a Farsi term meaning “wounded by the enemy,” in coverage tied to what the regime is calling the “Ramadan war,” the Associated Press reports. State media did not specify when, where, or how the injury occurred.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement Monday pledging loyalty 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.
Iran marked the appointment with a new barrage of missile strikes against Israel and Gulf states on Monday, as energy markets absorbed the news.
President Donald Trump had made clear before Mojtaba’s appointment that any new Supreme Leader would need U.S. approval to remain in power.
“We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future, so we don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again,” Trump told Reuters. “We want somebody that’s going to be great for the people, great for the country.”
Mojtaba, a mid-level Shiite cleric, is already a marked figure. 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.
