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An Iranian health ministry official said Monday that injuries suffered by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes in late February were only “superficial,” offering a rare account of the day he was wounded.
Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour told the ILNA news agency that Mojtaba was taken to a hospital on Feb. 28 after the strikes that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and triggered retaliatory Iranian attacks across the region.
The 56-year-old has not appeared publicly since he was named Iran’s supreme leader on March 8. He has issued only written statements, fueling speculation about his health.
Kermanpour said Mojtaba arrived at the hospital at around 1 p.m. Tehran time (9:30 a.m. GMT) on Feb. 28 and “entered the operating room along with several other wounded individuals.”
He said Mojtaba had superficial injuries to his face, head and legs.
“Apart from superficial injuries to the face, head and legs, which caused neither amputation nor any particular medical problem, nothing major had happened,” Kermanpour said.
“From my perspective as a physician these were not considered serious injuries and required no special procedures apart from one or two stitches,” he added.
Kermanpour said Mojtaba was fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and refused to break his fast until iftar, which he said showed that he was in good health.
He said Mojtaba was discharged from the hospital at around 2:00 a.m. (10:30 p.m. GMT) on March 1, but did not say where he was moved.
In March, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mojtaba was “believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured.”
Mojtaba succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, after the elder Khamenei was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.
His lack of public appearances since being named supreme leader has fueled speculation about his condition.
On May 7, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had met the leader and that their meeting lasted two and a half hours.
Three days later, Iranian state TV said Ali Abdollahi, the head of Iran’s military central command, met with the supreme leader.
Irna's state TV reported Khamenei gave “new directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy.”
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