Iran formally named Mojtaba Khamenei as its third Supreme Leader on March 9. Mojtaba is yet to appear in public since the strike that killed his father, wife, and son. Intelligence agencies around the world, including the CIA and the Mossad, waited on Friday to see if Mojtaba would follow his father’s tradition and give an address on Nowruz, the Persian New Year. However, only a written statement came from him, intensifying the mystery around his whereabouts and health condition.
The US and Israeli intelligence have evidence of Mojataba being alive, such as Iranian officials trying to schedule meetings with him, according to an Axios report. “We have no evidence that he (Mojtaba) is really the one giving orders,” an Israeli officer told Axios.
“It’s beyond weird. We don’t think the Iranians would have gone through all this trouble to choose a dead guy as the supreme leader, but at the same time, we have no proof that he is taking the helm,” a US official told Axios.
After Mojtaba’s Telegram channel published a written message marking the new year along with some of his photos, a US official told Axios that the CIA was trying to find whether the photos were recent. The official said that despite threats to his own safety, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian released a video message for Nowruz, adding, “We would have expected to see Mojtaba too in some form. He didn’t take advantage of the opportunity and tradition. It’s a big red flag.”
While Mojtaba’s absence from the public eye remains a mystery, experts suggest it could be due to safety concerns. Raz Zimmt, director of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told Axios there is no evidence that Mojtaba is not functioning, despite injuries and security concerns making it difficult for him to fully exercise his authority.
“Under the current exceptional circumstances, one should not expect him to appear in public, and it is possible that his injury does not even allow him to release a recorded video in order not to expose the public to the severity of his condition,” he said.
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