Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that communication with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is currently “extremely difficult,” according to Iranian state television.
Pezeshkian added, “It is very difficult to communicate with him at the moment, but his presence remains a tremendous asset for us and enables us to continue.”
Mojtaba Khamenei was elected Supreme Leader in March, succeeding his father, who was killed on February 28 after leading Iran for nearly four decades. Iranian officials have said that his continued absence from public view is due to injuries sustained during the war, although U.S. and Iranian reports have offered differing assessments of the severity of those injuries.
In a video published by Iranian state media on July 21, Pezeshkian said that the level of coordination and engagement with the Supreme Leader was increasing steadily.
At the time, he stated: “Our level of engagement with Iran’s beloved Supreme Leader is growing day by day, and it must continue to increase so that we can resolve our problems through his guidance.”
In April, three sources close to Mojtaba Khamenei told media outlets that the attack had left him with serious injuries to his face and legs.
During his father’s tenure, Mojtaba Khamenei maintained a low public profile. Since assuming the country’s highest office, he has so far limited his public appearances to written statements, which indicate that he intends to follow the same principles as his father, particularly regarding Iran’s confrontation with the United States and Israel.
With no recent photographs of him released, speculation has continued over the reasons for his absence from public view. Theories range from the seriousness of the injuries he reportedly sustained in the strikes that killed his wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, and several family members, to the heightened security measures surrounding him following a series of wartime assassinations targeting senior political and military figures.
