As the suspense continues over the whereabouts of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, the Iranian state media on Friday released an undated video of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in which he was seen teaching ‘religious science’ to a group of students in Arabic.ย
The one minute nineteen seconds video was released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), but it did not verify when it was recorded. This has led to speculations that it was an archived video.ย
“Published for the first time. A video of religious science teaching by Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei,” the IRIB posted on X (formerly Twitter), while sharing the undated video.ย
Suspense over whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei
There has been a suspense over the whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, who was made Iran’s new Supreme Leader after his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint airstrike by the United States (US) and Israel that sparked tensions in the Middle East. Recently, President Donald Trump has said that he also remains unsured whether Mojtaba is alive or not, as “nobody has seen him”, which he called “unusual”.
Earlier, he had also said that he should be involved in picking new Iran’s leader like he was involved in doing that in Venezuela.
“We don’t know… if he’s dead or not,” the American leader said at a press conference last week. “A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg, one leg, and he’s, you know, been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead. Nobody’s saying he’s 100 per cent healthy. You know he hasn’t spoken.”
Middle East remains on boil
Meanwhile, tensions have continued in the Middle East, with both sides continuing airstrikes against the other. The US has warned of more strikes against the Iranian regime. On the other hand, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that the country will continue to build new missiles, stressing that the conflict will continue for now.
“These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted,” IRGC’s General Ali Mohammad Naeini said, as reported by the Associated Press (AP). “This war must end when the shadow of war is lifted from the country.”
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