PULLED FROM THE RUBBLE: Mojtaba Khamenei Reportedly Survived Second U.S.-Israeli Strike After Hospital Was Bombed ⠀
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Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei reportedly had to be rescued from beneath the wreckage of a Tehran hospital after U.S. and Israeli forces bombed the facility, marking the second time he narrowly survived an attack during the war, according to a senior Iranian cleric.
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Khamenei had initially been seriously wounded in the Feb. 28 strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was taken to a hospital in Tehran for treatment. The 86-year-old Iranian leader and dozens of senior regime officials were killed when the U.S. and Israel struck Khamenei’s compound at the outset of the war.
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In the days following that initial attack, three hospitals in Tehran were reportedly struck. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was inside one of them and was eventually extracted from the debris. He was subsequently moved to an undisclosed location and has neither appeared publicly nor been heard from since.
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“Even after he had been wounded and taken to the hospital, three hospitals in Tehran were bombed,” Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, told Qatari television network Al Araby Thursday.
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“Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble.”
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Heydari also revealed new details about the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Khamenei’s selection as Iran’s new supreme leader. According to his account, Khamenei apparently did not even know that he had been selected for the position on March 8 until Iranian state television publicly announced the decision. Once chosen, however, Khamenei was “legally and religiously” obligated to accept the position, Heydari said.
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The Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for selecting Iran’s supreme leader, was itself reportedly targeted during the U.S.-Israeli campaign. The assembly’s secretariat in Qom was bombed, killing eight people and destroying documents containing reports and recommendations concerning candidates to succeed Ali Khamenei.
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With their normal procedures disrupted, members of the assembly reportedly wrote their individual choices on pieces of paper before being summoned to a secret location approximately one week after the opening strikes. According to the account, the members were not told beforehand where they were going or precisely what type of meeting they would be attending.
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Heydari said he became the first participant at the meeting to formally put forward Mojtaba Khamenei’s name, despite President Trump having warned Iran against installing the late supreme leader’s son. Mojtaba had been regarded as an even more uncompromising hardliner than his father.
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“Given the enemy’s position, we will choose and elect no one as leader and supreme guide of the Islamic Republic except Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei,” Heidari recalled saying.
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“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,” he told the outlet.
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Khamenei ultimately received 50 of the 59 votes cast by members of the assembly. Eight members supported Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, while one abstained.
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During his interview with the Qatari network, Heydari described Khamenei as a “man of the shadows.” Before succeeding his father, Khamenei had never formally held a political position within the Iranian government, although he was reportedly a longtime adviser to the elder Khamenei.
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Questions have continued for months about the new supreme leader’s medical condition — and even whether he survived his injuries. U.S. intelligence assessments have reportedly indicated that Khamenei was severely disfigured in the attacks.
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President Trump addressed the speculation last month, saying “I don’t think he’s dead” when questioned about Khamenei’s condition.
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“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,” he added.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, however, insisted this week that the reclusive supreme leader is “completely” healthy. Pezeshkian made the claim during a Fox News interview while visiting New York City for the United Nations General Assembly.
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“We met for about seven hours,” the Iranian president told “Special Report” host Bret Baier of a meeting between the two Iranian leaders last month. “We conducted talks.”
