Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was reportedly "pulled from the rubble" of a Tehran hospital after joint US and Israeli strikes struck the medical facility where he was being treated following earlier bombardments.
According to a report by the New York Post, Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, disclosed this information in an interview with Qatari television network Al Araby on Thursday (local time).
This revelation comes as tensions remain high across the Middle East following the February 28 joint strikes carried out by the US and Israel against Tehran.
In the attack, Iran's then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and several other senior officials were killed.
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What Mohsen Heydari revealed
Khamenei was rushed to a Tehran hospital after the February strikes on his father narrowly missed killing him.
To launch the war, the allies obliterated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Tehran compound on February 28, killing the 86-year-old supreme leader and dozens of his top officials. In the days that followed, they reportedly bombed three different hospitals in Tehran as well.
{{/usCountry}}To launch the war, the allies obliterated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Tehran compound on February 28, killing the 86-year-old supreme leader and dozens of his top officials. In the days that followed, they reportedly bombed three different hospitals in Tehran as well.
{{/usCountry}}“Even after he (Mojtaba) had been wounded and taken to the hospital, three hospitals in Tehran were bombed,” Mohsen Heydari told Qatari television network Al Araby, according to the New York Post.
"Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble," Heydari said.
Following this, the 56-year-old vanished to an undisclosed location and has not made a public appearance or been heard from since, the report said.
In the interview, Heidari reportedly called Mojtaba a “man of the shadows”.
Reportedly, Mojtaba was unaware of his March 8 selection until the broadcast aired on state television. But once the decision was made, he was "legally and religiously" bound to accept it, the official said.
Voting for Iran's new Supreme Leader
The Assembly of Experts was the body mandated with choosing Iran's new supreme leader.
It was reportedly a target of the US and Israel strikes, the New York Post report added.
Following the initial strikes, the members wrote their vote on paper before being summoned to an undisclosed location, without prior awareness of the agenda. Mojtaba got 50 of 59 votes during the meeting.
"We obtained information that Mojtaba Khamenei was healthy and able to lead, and we determined that he met the requirements of religious qualification, justice and competence to manage the country," Heydari was further quoted as saying in the report.
These revelations follow months of speculation over Mojtaba's health.
Trump on Mojtaba Khamenei's health
Earlier in August, while speaking in an interview with US commentator Glenn Beck, US President Trump addressed the speculations regarding Mojtaba's health.
Also Read | 'Seriously wounded, but not dead': Trump on Iran's Mojtaba Khamenei
Trump had noted, "I don't think he’s dead."
"He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously wounded, but I don’t think he's dead," the US President added.