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‘Mojtaba Khamenei is healthy, attended father’s funeral', says Iranian diplomat
Ilahi maintained that the supreme leader was in good health and continuing to perform his duties despite his prolonged absence from public view, NDTV reported.
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Amid speculation over the health and whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, an Iranian diplomat said on Thursday that the Supreme Leader is “very, very, very healthy” and is on the job.
Weeks after reports speculated that Mojtaba didn't attend his father Ayatollah Ali Khamanei's funeral, Iranian diplomat Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi said that he was in fact present there.
President Masoud Pezeshkian had recently held a seven-hour meeting with Mojataba, the diplomat said, during an interaction at NDTV's World Summit.
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Concerns over Mojataba Khamenei's health
Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since reportedly being injured in a US-Israeli airstrike eight months ago, at the start of the war against Iran. The strike killed his father, then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mojtaba's absence from his father's funeral, which was finally held in July, fueled speculation about his deteriorating health and fears that he might have been assassinated. Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in an airstrike on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed supreme leader shortly after his father's death. Since then, he has communicated only through written statements and has made no public appearances.
"He is benefiting from very good health and he's working very nicely. Even our president mentioned that last week he had a 7-hour meeting with him. Also the Speaker of our Parliament will come here day after tomorrow. He also said yesterday that he mentioned he met him for so many hours. I have some friends who met him and they assure me and mention that he's very, very, very healthy and he's doing his job very nicely," Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi said during the NDTV event.
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Mojtaba attended father's funeral
Addressing claims that Mojtaba had been absent from his father's funeral, the senior Iranian diplomat insisted that the supreme leader had attended the ceremony.
"New to the security, he has not come to the media and no one has seen him. But even he participated in the funeral of his father. At that time I was in Iran. I met two of his brothers. Mojtaba Khamenei was there also," the diplomat said.
"Even some nights he comes to the street. He participated in the demonstration of the people in Iran and he's doing very nicely," he underlined.
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Reports on Mojtaba Khamenei
In August, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reportedly met Mojtaba Khamenei to discuss the country's military and economic situation. The meeting came days after Israeli media reports claimed that the supreme leader was in an "extremely critical condition".
According to Press TV, the discussions focused on the needs of the Iranian people, the country's prevailing situation and the future course of the US-Israeli war against Iran, as well as developments on the military front.
The two leaders also discussed ways to secure resources and manage spending on the rial, foreign currency and energy. Strengthening economic engagement with foreign partners was another key topic, the report added.
The meeting was also reported by the Farsi-language X account attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei.
"In this meeting, detailed discussions were held on the country's issues and problems, particularly the provision of the people's livelihood needs, the current conditions of the third imposed war and the future ahead, developments in the military domain, solutions regarding the provision of resources and management of expenditures--"rial, foreign currency, and energy"--as well as economic interactions with foreign parties," part of the post on X read.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that no one knew who was running Iran as the US-Israeli war against the country entered its eighth month.
"Their leaders are gone, their second group of leaders are gone, and the biggest problem I have is nobody knows who the hell is running the country," Trump said.
