Overview
- Mohsen Heydari, a member of the Assembly of Experts, told Qatari TV that Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the February strikes, taken to a Tehran hospital, and later rescued from rubble when that medical facility was hit.
- Heydari also described a constrained March 8 selection by the Assembly of Experts, saying members wrote votes on paper and that Khamenei received 50 of 59 votes to become supreme leader.
- Accounts of Khamenei’s condition conflict: some U.S. officials and President Trump have said he was seriously wounded, while Iran’s president says he is healthy and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says no proof‑of‑life has been released for security reasons.
- Khamenei has not made public appearances or given audio statements since his appointment, and the lack of independently verifiable images or statements has left questions about who is exercising authority inside Iran.
- Reports that hospitals and the Assembly’s Qom secretariat were struck and that documents and lives were lost point to disrupted succession procedures, increased risk to civilians, and a wider information battle over Iran’s leadership and stability.