Iran supreme leader ‘needs plastic surgery’ after face severely burned | World | News
Man walks past banner of Iran’s new and former supreme leaders (file image) (Image: Getty)
Iran’s new supreme leader has not been seen publicly since the start of the war with the US and reports have emeged that his face was so badly burned in an airstrike that he needs plastic surgery.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen, released an audio or video message since coming to power. According to reports, he was seriously injured in an air strike on February 28.
The US and Iran have been at war since the end of February after joint US-Israeli forces carried out strikes on several key Iranian sites. Iran retaliated by striking sites across the region and closing the critical Strait of Hormuz trade route.
The New York Times reported that although Khamenei was seriously wounded, he is mentally sharp and engaged, according to four senior Iranian officials familiar with his health.
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Khamenei, 56, has undergone several surgeries in an effort to recover from the strike, which also killed his father and the country’s ex-leader, Ali Khamenei.
One of his legs was operated on three times and he is awaiting a prosthetic.
He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function.
“His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak [and] he will need plastic surgery,” the Times reported.
“Senior government officials do not visit him, fearing that Israel may trace them to him and kill him.
“Messages to him are handwritten, sealed in envelopes and relayed via a human chain from one trusted courier to the next, who travel on highways and back roads, in cars and on motorcycles until they reach his hide-out. His guidance on issues snakes back the same way.”
The officials said that his face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak. They said that he will eventually need plastic surgery.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is also a heart surgeon, and the minister of health have both been involved in his care.
Portrait of Iran’s former supreme leader in Lebanon (file image) (Image: Getty)
It is understood that he has little direct contact with Iranain leadership. Senior commanders and government officials do not visit him Khamenei out of fear that Israel may trace them to him and kill him, the Times reported.
Messages to Khamenei are handwritten, sealed in envelopes and relayed via a human chain from one trusted courier to the next. These couriers are understood to travel on highways and back roads, in cars and on motorcycles until they reach his hide-out. He also responds through a chain.
Khamenei has delegated decision-making to the generals.
Reformist factions and ultra-hard-liners are still involved in political discussions.
Analysts have said that Khamenei’s close ties to the generals, whom he grew up with when he volunteered to fight in the Iran-Iraq war as a teenager, have made them the dominant force.
