Mojtaba Khamenei Was ‘Pulled From Rubble’ After Hospital Strike, Iranian Cleric Claims

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was pulled from the rubble of a Tehran hospital after US and Israeli strikes hit the facility where he was receiving treatment, an Iranian cleric has claimed, according to the New York Post.

Mohsen Heydari, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, gave the account in an interview with Qatari television network Al Araby on Thursday. His remarks add another claim to the uncertainty surrounding Khamenei’s condition and whereabouts.

“Even after he had been wounded and taken to the hospital, three hospitals in Tehran were bombed,” Heydari said, according to the newspaper.

“Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital and was pulled from the rubble,” he added.

Conflicting Accounts of His Health

The New York Post reported that Khamenei, 56, subsequently moved to an unknown location and had not been seen or heard publicly since.

The newspaper also cited reports suggesting that US intelligence assessments had described him as badly disfigured in earlier attacks. The accounts leave the extent of his injuries unclear.

Last month, US President Donald Trump told commentator Glenn Beck that he believed Khamenei remained alive but had suffered serious injuries.

“I don’t think he’s dead,” Trump said. “He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, the whole thing. He was very seriously wounded, but I don’t think he’s dead.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian offered a sharply different account in an interview with Fox News this week, describing Khamenei as “completely” healthy.

“We met for about seven hours,” Pezeshkian told host Bret Baier, referring to a meeting last month. “We conducted talks.”

How the Leadership Vote Took Place

Heydari also described the process that led to Khamenei’s selection as supreme leader on March 8.

According to his account, Khamenei apparently did not learn of his appointment until Iranian state television broadcast the announcement.

The Assembly of Experts, which selects Iran’s supreme leader, had itself reportedly come under attack. The New York Post said a strike on its Qom Secretariat killed eight people and destroyed reports and recommendations concerning the leadership selection.

Heydari said members subsequently wrote their votes on paper and were summoned to a secret room for the process. He recalled being the first to propose Khamenei’s name.

“We obtained information that Mojtaba Khamenei was healthy and able to lead, and we determined that he met the requirements of religious qualification, justice and competence to manage the country,” he said.

The newspaper reported that Khamenei secured 50 of the 59 votes cast. Eight members backed Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, while one abstained.

A ‘Man of the Shadows’

Heydari described Khamenei as a “man of the shadows”, saying he had held no political position within the Iranian state before becoming supreme leader, although he had reportedly advised his father.

His account of the hospital strike does not resolve the questions surrounding Khamenei’s current condition. Trump’s description of severe injuries and Pezeshkian’s claim of good health remain competing assertions amid the Iranian leader’s reported public absence.

With inputs from ANI