Iran’s ‘heavily disfigured’ new Ayatollah breaks silence with threat | World | News
Iran’s new religious leader issued a statement amid reports claiming he was dead or severely disfigured.
In this message, while a moment of silence was observed in memory of the murdered security official Ali Larijani, there was another warning to Washington.
“I received with great sadness the sad news of the martyrdom of the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the Leader’s representative in this council, Mr. Dr. Ali Larijani, as well as his distinguished son and some of his colleagues,” Khamenei said in a statement on Wednesday. he said.
Khamenei went on to say that Larijani is “a knowledgeable, forward-thinking, intelligent and determined individual with diverse experiences in various political, military, security, cultural and administrative fields.”
“Enemies of Islam should know that shedding this blood only strengthens the great tree of the Islamic system, and of course, every drop of blood has a price, and the murderers of these martyrs will soon have to pay this price.”
This is his second statement in recent days, following reports that he lost his leg and was in a coma. This time, he did not appear in front of the camera, as he did in the hastily written message of a news anchor on Iranian television last week.
It is highly likely that Khamenei is hiding in a secret place to escape assassination attempts. His father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a major Israeli and US offensive at the beginning of the war.
Mojtaba Khamenei is perceived as even more devoutly religious than his father. The prospect of him becoming the next religious leader was seen as a potential return to Iran’s past hereditary monarchy, but with a theocratic twist.
These concerns appeared to have disappeared with the airstrikes that toppled Iran’s top leadership in Tehran, injured Mojtaba Khamenei, and claimed the lives of his father and wife.
Prior to his appointment, Khamenei had occupied a role similar to that of Ahmed Khomeini, the son of Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini; “A combination of aide, confidant, gatekeeper and power broker,” according to United Against Nuclear Iran, a US-based pressure group.
Young Khamenei assumed the role of religious leader in the war, not only with his army but also with his stock of highly enriched uranium that could be used in the production of nuclear weapons.
Born in the city of Mashhad in 1969, nearly 10 years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that would transform Iran, Khamenei grew up while his father was campaigning against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Ali Khamenei’s official biography describes an incident when SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police, invaded their home and attacked the cleric. Muctaba and Khamenei’s other children woke up later and were informed that their father was going on vacation.
“But I told them, ‘There is no need to lie.’ I told them the truth,” the elder Khamenei said.
