Iran’s Next Supreme Leader Already Wounded
Posted For: Rotorblade
Iran’s state television confirmed Monday that Mojtaba Khamenei, the country’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, has been wounded. The announcement came only hours after Iranian authorities formally recognized him as the successor to his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The report was released on Day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.–Israel military campaign that began with a February 28 Israeli airstrike in Tehran that killed the previous Supreme Leader and his wife.
During the broadcast, Iranian television anchors described Mojtaba as “janbaz,” a Farsi term meaning “wounded by the enemy,” while discussing what Iranian officials are calling the “Ramadan war,” according to the Associated Press. State media did not provide details about when, where, or how the injury occurred.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement Monday pledging loyalty to Mojtaba Khamenei.
“We are ready to fully obey and devote the divine orders of the Supreme Leader of the time, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, and to preserve the values of the Islamic Revolution,” the IRGC said, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
Iran also marked the leadership transition with a new barrage of missile strikes targeting Israel and several Gulf states on Monday, developments that quickly affected global energy markets.
President Donald Trump had previously stated that any new Iranian Supreme Leader would need approval from the United States to remain in power.
“We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future, so we don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again,” President Trump told Reuters. “We want somebody that’s going to be great for the people, great for the country.”
Mojtaba Khamenei, a mid-level Shiite cleric, had already been viewed as a potential target. Israel had earlier vowed to eliminate whoever succeeded Ayatollah Khamenei, and Israeli officials have described Mojtaba as a hardline figure likely to continue the policies and hostilities associated with his father’s rule.
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