Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Was Pulled From Rubble of Tehran Hospital After US-Israeli Strike, Cleric Claims

Tehran: Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was pulled from the rubble of a Tehran hospital after it was struck by US and Israeli forces in the early days of the war, according to a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, in a claim that adds to persistent uncertainty over the leader's health and whereabouts.

Cleric Mohsen Heydari made the assertion in a Thursday interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Araby, as reported by the New York Post. He said Khamenei had been wounded and taken to hospital following the initial strikes, but that three Tehran hospitals were subsequently bombed, with the leader present in the third. Khamenei, 56, was then moved to an undisclosed location and has reportedly neither appeared publicly nor been heard from since.

The strikes that began on February 28 killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with a dozen other senior leaders. Heydari also described how the Assembly selected Mojtaba on March 8, saying members voted in secret after their Qom Secretariat was bombed, killing eight people. Khamenei reportedly received 50 of 59 votes, with eight backing Ayatollah Alireza Arafi and one abstention. Heydari said he was the first to propose Khamenei's name, that the new leader apparently learned of his selection only through state television.

US intelligence assessments have reportedly suggested Khamenei suffered severe facial injuries in the strikes, deepening speculation over his condition.