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Purported new visuals of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei emerge amid health concerns
The undated video, which comes amid reports of his 'ill health', has sparked a social media debate, with several users pointing out that it is old.
Days after reports of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei's health being critical surfaced, Iran's semi-official Mehr News agency released an undated video of him on Saturday, August 8.
In the video, Mojtaba is seemingly in good health, sitting with some men and talking to them as they hear him with complete attention.
It is not yet known when the video was shot.
HT.com could not independently verify the authenticity of the video or whether it is Mojtaba Khamenei seen in the video.
However, on Friday, IranWire, citing sources close to President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, reported that rumours about Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei being in an “extremely critical condition” were circulating at the highest levels of the Iranian regime.
Some Israeli media also reported that Mojtaba is in “critical condition”.
“We would not be surprised if we heard news of his martyrdom soon,” The Jerusalem Post quoted a source as saying.
Mojtaba became Iran's Supreme Leader after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in joint strikes by the United States and Israel on February 28 which triggered the ongoing war.
Also read: Mojtaba Khamenei in critical condition, imminent death rumours circulate in Iran: Report
According to several reports, Mojtaba got injured and potentially disfigured in the same strikes and is undergoing treatment. He has not appeared in public since the attack and being named the Supreme Leader, including in his father's funeral held last month.
Mojtaba has been communicating with senior officials of the Islamic Republic through a slow network of intermediaries to avoid being targeted, according to reports.
Old video?
The video quickly gained traction on social media and was widely shared by several accounts, several of whom claimed that it was an old video of Mojtaba, shared by Iran's state-backed media to “mislead” people about his health.
Jason Brodsky, who policy director at ‘United Against Nuclear Iran’ organisation, according to his X account, said, “This footage is old, from before the war. It was first circulating in March. It's telling #Iran's regime's Mehr News feels the need to circulate old video of Mojtaba.”
Also read: US-Iran war latest: JD Vance says US weighing safe Hormuz route for ships as Iran reiterates demands
UANI describes itself as a “nonprofit and non-partisan policy organization formed to combat the threats posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
Another social media account, Middle East 24, claimed that it was the people of Iran who “exposed” the footage as “old material from his past lectures in Qom”.
