- Mojtaba Khamenei survived two US strikes targeting him in Tehran hospitals
- The strikes followed attacks that killed his father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
- Mojtaba was rescued from rubble after a hospital bombing by US and Israeli forces
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei survived US strikes not once but twice since the American and Israeli forces launched a war against the Islamic Republic. The 56-year-old cleric was rushed to a hospital in Tehran after the February 28 strikes that killed his father, only to be "pulled from the rubble" again when the US bombed the medical centre where he was admitted, an Iranian cleric said in an interview with Qatari television this week.
Mojtaba Khamenei was rushed to a Tehran hospital after the February strikes targeting his father nearly killed him, only to be "pulled from the rubble" again after the United States and Israel bombed the medical centre, an Iranian cleric revealed in an interview with Qatari television this week.
In the days following the strikes that obliterated the compound of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, where the 86-year-old supreme leader was killed with several of his aides and family members, the US and Israeli forces reported targeting three different hospitals in the capital city.
Talking to a Qatari-owned Al Araby news outlet, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, said that Mojtaba Khamenei was in the third hospital that was targeted and was rescued from under the debris.
According to a New York Post report, the younger Khamenei was transported to an unknown location after that and has since not appeared in public, even on camera.
Alekasir went on to claim that Mojtaba Khamenei had no clue that he was being considered as the new supreme leader until the March 8 announcement on state TV. But once the decision was made, he was "legally and religiously" obligated to take it, the cleric said.
The Assembly of Experts is the body that chooses Iran's supreme leader. The body was itself on enemies' target list, with US and Israeli forces bombing its Qom Secretariat.
Alekasir also described the process that led to Khamenei's nomination, claiming he was the first person to suggest his name after receiving information that the 56-year-old leader was healthy enough to lead.
Khamenei reportedly secured 50 of the 59 votes cast, with eight members voting for Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, while one abstained.
"Given the enemy's position, we will choose and elect no one as leader and supreme guide of the Islamic Republic except Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei," Alekasir said, according to a New York Post report.
Khamenei is believed to be in hiding after being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father. However, last week, talking to Fox News, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed Khamenei is completely healthy.
