Irans regime unveiled what it claimed was the first global address by its new supreme leader, yet the man himself never appeared on screen.
According to the Daily Caller, Iranian state television aired a newscaster reading Mojtaba Khameneis purported statement while only a static photograph was shown, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Tasnim News Agency later circulated an English-language version of the address.
The carefully stage-managed message pledged to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and declared that Iranian forces would continue striking American military bases in the region, while insisting such attacks were directed solely at U.S. infrastructure rather than neighboring states.
No independently verifiable evidence has emerged to confirm Mojtaba is alive since his elevation to the role, according to the Washington Examiner, deepening questions about who is actually in charge in Tehran. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that the new ayatollah suffered a fractured foot, a bruise close to his left eye and cuts across his face during the initial Israeli bombardment that killed his father.
Irans Assembly of Experts is said to have appointed Mojtaba on March 8, following the Feb. 28 strike that killed Ali Khamenei, while Iranian state television reported that his mother, sister and wife also perished in the attack, The Jerusalem Post noted. Beni Sabti of Israels Institute for National Security Studies told the outlet that the regime is attempting to spin Mojtabas wounds into a narrative of heroic sacrifice by portraying him as a Ramadan war veteran.
Sabti further contended that the new figurehead is unlikely to wield genuine power in the theocracys hierarchy. I dont think he is actually running Iran, he said, adding, I believe the senior officials who remained from his fathers era are managing the country.
The conflict pitting the U.S.-Israeli coalition against Iran has now entered its 13th day, with Mojtabas alleged statement invoking a March 1 bombing of a girls school in Minab that Iranian authorities claim killed at least 165 people, including children. The U.S. military is investigating how the school was struck, and a preliminary inquiry has reportedly assigned responsibility to American forces, according to The New York Times.
Iranian state outlets, meanwhile, have leaned on archival footage and AI-generated imagery to mask Mojtabas absence from public view, CNN reported, underscoring the opacity of the regime at a moment of escalating war. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Mojtaba in 2019 for acting as his late fathers formal representative despite never having been legitimately elected or appointed, a reminder of why conservatives in the West remain wary of Tehrans claims and skeptical of any narrative crafted by its state-controlled media.
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