Reports Detail Mojtaba Khamenei’s Injuries as IRGC Tightens Grip

Overview

• The New York Times reports that Iran’s new Supreme Leader was gravely wounded in air strikes attributed to the United States and Israel.
• He has had three surgeries on one leg with a prosthesis pending, underwent a hand operation with slow recovery, and faces plastic surgery for severe facial burns, with care overseen by President Masoud Pezeshkian and the health minister.
• Iranian officials say he remains mentally lucid and takes part in decisions.
• Access to him is tightly restricted and messages move in sealed, handwritten form via trusted messengers to his concealed location.
• Power over day-to-day decisions has shifted to hardline Revolutionary Guard commanders, and he has longstanding ties to the Quds Force and Basij that drew U.S. Treasury sanctions in 2009.