On May 31, 2019, Mojtaba Khamenei attended the annual Quds (Jerusalem Day) rally in Tehran, Iran. As speculation swirls around the survival of Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, claims have emerged that he narrowly escaped death by stepping out into the garden just before an airstrike.
On the 16th (local time), the British daily The Telegraph reported on the contents of a voice recording from a closed meeting of Iran’s leadership held on the 12th.
● Iranian Side: “Survived by the Will of God”
According to the report, the recording mentions that on February 28th, during an airstrike in Tehran, Mojtaba was with his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and briefly went outside to “do something.” Following the missile attack, Khamenei, his family, and numerous senior officers were killed. However, Mojtaba survived because he was temporarily away from the scene.
Mazaher Hoseini, the chief of protocol at Khamenei’s office, claimed in the leadership meeting on the 12th that “Mojtaba went out to the yard by the will of God to do something and then returned,” asserting that “as he was about to go upstairs while outside, the missile hit the building.”
He claimed that Mojtaba suffered only minor injuries to his leg.
● Trump: “No One Has Seen Him…He Could Be Dead”
However, since being designated as the successor, Mojtaba has yet to appear in public, raising further questions.
U.S. President Donald Trump remarked on the uncertainty surrounding Mojtaba’s survival. On the 16th, he told reporters, “Many people say he is severely harmed. Some say he lost a leg or is very badly injured. Some even say he is dead.”
He added, “We have not seen him at all. We don’t even know if he’s dead. It’s unusual that no one has seen him.”