Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has disappeared almost completely from public view, fueling growing speculation that he may be seriously ill or dead and raising fresh questions about who is actually running the Islamic republic, The Atlantic reported on Tuesday. Khamenei, who assumed Iran’s highest political and religious office nearly six months ago after the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was notably absent last week from a wake in Tehran that he was officially scheduled to host. His absence has intensified questions about his whereabouts and health at a particularly sensitive moment for Iran.
The Atlantic reported that no contemporaneous photograph, video, or audio recording of Mojtaba Khamenei has been publicly released since he became supreme leader. Even senior Iranian officials have acknowledged that they have not seen him — including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a member of Iran’s National Security Council. The lack of public appearances has generated persistent rumors inside and outside Iran that Mojtaba Khamenei may have suffered serious injuries during the February U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed his father and several senior Iranian officials. Those reports have never been independently confirmed.
