Iran issues major update on missing Supreme Leader not seen in public for 68 days | World | News
The Iranian Supreme Leader has reportedly attended meetings with the country’s president as he remains in hiding for nearly 70 days. Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public or heard in any audio recording since February 28, when he was reportedly injured in the same airstrike that killed his father, former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He was appointed Supreme Leader in early March, but has remained absent from public view. In an update shared via the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency, President Masoud Pezeshkian said he recently met with Khamenei, which had a “humble and deeply cordial” atmosphere.
The Supreme Leader reportedly underwent three operations on his leg and required a prosthetic replacement, senior Iranian officials told the New York Times.
He also had surgery on his hand, which is slowly regaining function, and has difficulty speaking due to severe burns on his face and lips, according to the report.
The sources added that he will eventually need plastic surgery, but maintained he is still mentally sharp.
In a written statement read out on Iranian state television, he doubled down on Tehran’s refusal to compromise on its weapons programmes, despite US efforts to secure a deal.
He said: “Ninety million proud and honourable Iranians inside and outside the country regard all of Iran’s identity-based, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial and technological capacities – from nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities – as national assets, and will protect them just as they protect the country’s waters, land and airspace.”
He added: “By God’s help and power, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America, one serving the progress, comfort and prosperity of its people.
“We and our neighbours across the waters of the Persian Gulf and the [Gulf] of Oman share a common destiny. Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometres away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it – except at the bottom of its waters.”
