Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, is incapacitated and receiving medical treatment in the holy city of Qom, according to an assessment by US and Israeli intelligence, to which the newspaper The Times had access.
According to the newspaper, a diplomatic memo informs that Mojtaba is being treated for a “serious” health problem and is located in the central city, 140 kilometers south of Tehran, considered a holy site in Shiite Islam. “Mojtaba Khamenei is being treated in Qom in a serious condition, unable to participate in any decision-making by the regime,” says the text released by The Times.
The newspaper contacted the National Security Agency (NSA), as well as Iran’s representation in Washington, but received no response.
Previously, Iran had confirmed that the new supreme leader was injured in the same airstrike that killed his father, his mother, his wife Zahra Haddad-Adel and one of his sons during the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Since then, Khamenei’s successor has not been seen in public. According to the newspaper The Timesonly two statements attributed to the leader were read on Iranian state television and a video produced by artificial intelligence in which Mojtaba enters a war room and analyzes the Dimona nuclear plant in Israel.
Furthermore, Mojtaba’s alleged incapacity increases speculation that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains control of the country and he functions as a puppet, in a country where the supreme leader is the political and religious authority, the newspaper reported. Trump has said he is negotiating with Iranian officials and not the supreme leader.
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On Wednesday the 8th, it will be 40 days since Khamenei’s death, on February 28th, which would mark the end of the traditional period of mourning in Shiite Islam. The memorial cited by The Times also states that Ali Khamenei’s body was being prepared for burial in Qom.
The delay in the funeral is another point of questioning. Shiite tradition calls for a quick burial, meanwhile, the Iranian government said the funeral was postponed due to “expectations of unprecedented participation.”
