Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was reportedly flown out of Tehran to Moscow for life‑saving leg surgery after being badly wounded in a drone strike, according to claims published by Kuwaiti newspaper Al‑Jarida on Saturday, 15 March. The paper, citing what it described as a high‑ranking source close to the leadership, alleged that Khamenei was moved in secret to Russia and operated on in one of President Vladimir Putin's palaces.
For context, questions over Mojtaba Khamenei's condition have been swirling since he took power following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in reported Israeli‑US strikes at the start of the current conflict. The new leader has not appeared in public since his succession, and officials in Tehran have issued only sketchy updates while foreign governments and US president Donald Trump have openly speculated about whether he is alive at all.
