Iran's Ministry of Health: Supreme Leader Mujtaba's injuries are only superficial

2026/05/25 22:45 Central News Agency

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. (Reuters file photo)

An Iranian health ministry official said today that the injuries sustained by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a U.S. and Israeli air strike in late February were only "superficial" wounds.

Agence France-Presse reported that the 56-year-old new supreme leader has not appeared in public since his appointment on March 8 and has only issued written statements, triggering speculation about his health.

In March this year, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that Mujtaba was still believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured.

Mujtaba succeeded his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader. Khamini was killed in a joint US-Israeli air strike on February 28, triggering Iran to launch retaliatory attacks in many places in the Middle East.

Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour today described the day Mojtaba was injured and the circumstances of his hospitalization, but did not disclose the name of the hospital.

Kermanpour said that at about 1 pm on February 28, Tehran time, Mujtaba "was sent to the operating room together with several other injured people."

"Except for superficial wounds on the face, head and legs, nothing major happened. These injuries neither resulted in amputation nor any special medical problems," he told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA).

"From my point of view as a doctor, these do not constitute serious injuries and do not require special treatment other than one or two stitches."

He added that it was during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, and Mujtaba continued to fast until sunset and refused to break his fast early, "which shows that he is in good health."

According to Kermanpur, Mujtaba was discharged from the hospital at around 2 a.m. on March 1, but his whereabouts thereafter were not disclosed.

On the 7th of this month, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had met with the Supreme Leader and revealed that the meeting between the two lasted about two and a half hours.

Three days later, Iran's state-run television reported that Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, the head of the Iranian military's central command, also met with the supreme leader, who gave new instructions and guidance on "continued operations against the enemy."