Speculation regarding the health of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has intensified following reports that he was surreptitiously transported to Russia for emergency surgery while allegedly remaining in a coma and unaware of the ongoing conflict with the U.S. and Israel.
Confusion surrounds the status of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, amid unconfirmed reports from Kuwaiti outlet Al-Jarida claiming he was secretly flown to Moscow on a Russian military aircraft for emergency surgery “personally offered by Putin.” Khamenei, who succeeded his father after the latter’s assassination on February 28, has not been seen in public since the onset of the U.S.-led “Operation Epic Fury,” leading some observers including President Donald Trump—to suggest he may be dead or incapacitated.
While a high-ranking source claimed the leader underwent “successful” leg surgery at a presidential palace in Russia, a separate source told The Sun that the Ayatollah is in a coma with “one or two of his legs… cut off” and internal organ ruptures. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reinforced these suspicions on Friday, stating, “We know the new so-called, not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured,” while internal Iranian sources admit that “no one knows anything about Mojtaba, whether he is alive or dead.” Despite a written statement attributed to him on Thursday vowing to avenge “the blood of its martyrs” and targeting U.S. bases, the lack of a televised appearance has left regional commanders running the war effort independently as the new leader reportedly remains “unaware there is a war.”