Iran says supreme leader suffered only ‘superficial’ wounds in US-Israel strike

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Mojtaba Khamenei

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An Iranian health ministry official said Monday the injuries suffered by supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes in late February were only “superficial”, offering a rare account of the day he was wounded.

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The 56-year-old has not appeared publicly since he was named as Iran’s supreme leader on March 8, issuing only written statements, fuelling speculation about his health.

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In March, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mojtaba was “believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured”.

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Mojtaba succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on February 28 that triggered retaliatory Iranian attacks across the region.

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On Monday, health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour described the day Mojtaba was wounded and his arrival at a hospital, which he did not identify.

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He said Mojtaba arrived at the hospital around 1:00 pm Tehran time on February 28 and “entered the operating room along with several other wounded individuals.”

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“Apart from superficial injuries to the face, head and legs, which caused neither amputation nor any particular medical problem, nothing major had happened,” Kermanpour told ILNA news agency.

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“From my perspective as a physician these were not considered serious injuries and required no special procedures apart from one or two stitches.”

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He added that Mojtaba, who was fasting until nightfall during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, “refused to break his fast and kept fasting until iftar, which itself showed his good health.”

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Kermanpour said he was discharged from the hospital at around 2:00 am on March 1, but did not say to where he was moved.

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On May 7, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had met the leader and that their meeting lasted two and a half hours.

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Three days later, Iranian state TV said the head of Iran’s military central command, Ali Abdollahi, met with the supreme leader who gave “new directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy.”

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