Iran releases undated video of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei amid health speculation

Three weeks after his father's death, Iran's new Supreme Leader remained a phantom. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, had inherited the highest office in the Islamic Republic following the February 28 joint US-Israel strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a Tehran compound. But the son had barely been seen since. On March 20, Iranian state television released a video meant to settle the growing speculation about whether he was alive at all, let alone fit to lead.

The footage showed Mojtaba teaching religious science to a small group of attentive students. No date was given. The Iranian state broadcaster, IRIB, announced it was publishing the material for the first time, offering no context about when it was filmed or where. The video's very existence was meant to be reassurance—proof of life, proof of function. Instead, its undated nature and the absence of any other public appearance by the new leader only deepened the questions.

Those questions had become impossible to ignore. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had openly cast doubt on Mojtaba's whereabouts and grip on power. "I'm not sure who's running Iran right now," Netanyahu said. "Mojtaba, the replacement ayatollah, has not shown his face." He noted visible fractures within Iran's power structure, with various factions maneuvering for influence in the vacuum left by Ali Khamenei's death. The implication was clear: a leadership in crisis invites opportunism.

US President Donald Trump had been even more blunt. American officials, he said, were uncertain whether Mojtaba was alive. "A lot of people are saying that he's badly disfigured. They're saying that he lost his leg, one leg, and he's been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he's dead," Trump told reporters. He emphasized the unusual nature of the silence: "We haven't seen him at all. Nobody's seen him, which is unusual." The suggestion hung in the air that a leader who cannot be seen cannot truly lead.

The reason for Mojtaba's absence became clearer through leaked audio from an internal Iranian meeting, reported by The Telegraph. According to the recording, Mojtaba had been inside the compound with his father shortly before the strike but stepped outside moments before the missiles hit. Mazaher Hosseini, the head of protocol in Ali Khamenei's office, described the moment to other officials on March 12: "God's will was that Mojtaba had to go out to the yard to do something and then return. He was outside and was heading upstairs when they struck the building with a missile." The timing had saved his life. His wife, Haddad, was killed instantly.

So Mojtaba Khamenei had survived the attack that killed his father, but not unscathed. Reports indicated he had been injured in the strike and was undergoing treatment. The new Supreme Leader was wounded, grieving, and now presiding over a nation where his own survival was being debated by foreign powers and his own people alike. The undated video of him teaching—if it was even recent—was Iran's attempt to project continuity and control. Instead, it underscored how much remained unknown about who was actually running the country, and whether the man who inherited the title could hold it.