Iran war: Is Mojtaba Khamenei dead or alive? Stunning new claim about Iran leader’s fate

Is he dead or alive?

The fate of Iran’s newly promoted supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is the subject of intense speculation as he remains conspicuously absent as the war in Iran rolls into its third week.

The 56-year-old’s only public offering since his elevation to the top job, following the assassination of his father Ali Khamenei, has been a statement read on state television on Thursday where he vowed to “avenge the blood of Iranians”.

Mojtaba Khamenei was injured during the first day of military strikes by Israel and the US on February 28 and much of his family, including his father, wife and children were killed.

Iran admits he was lightly injured but says he is “in good health and fully in control of the situation”.

But his injuries are in fact far worse, according to a source who told The Sun last week that he was in a coma after losing at least one leg and had also suffered serious stomach or liver damage. That information is unverified.

In a shock twist a Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Jarida, has now reported the new ayatollah was secretly whisked out Iran on a Russian military aircraft and taken to Moscow where he underwent a “successful” operation at one of Russian leader Vladmir Putin’s presidential palaces.

He would return to Iran soon, it was reported.

Al-Jarida cites its information, also unverified, had come from a “high-ranking source close to the new Iranian Supreme Leader”.

With speculation rife, even Donald Trump is unsure if Mojtaba Khamenei is dead or alive.

“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” he told NBC.

“Why hasn’t anyone been able to show Mojtaba yet?” he asked. “If he’s alive, he should do something very smart for his country, which is surrender.”

US Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth believes Khamenei is “wounded and likely disfigured”.

“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father - dead. He’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy,” Mr Hegseth said.

US intelligence reportedly told President Trump and senior advisers that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opposed the possibility of his son succeeding him, according a CBS report.

The elder Khamenei is believed to have thought his son was not capable and unfit to lead and had problems in his personal life.

Netanyahu squashes death reports

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been subject to speculation about his health, with rumours circulating online that he had died or was injured.

However, unlike Khamenei, he was quick to squash the false reports by posting a video of himself getting a coffee and chatting with his aide

In the video, taken at a cafe in Jerusalem’s outskirts and posted on Mr Netanyahu’s Telegram and X accounts, his aide asks him about the rumours.

Mr Netanyahu responds with a pun on the word dead - which in Hebrew slang can be used to describe “being crazy about” someone or something, as he reaches for a cup of coffee.