Tehran — Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “in low condition to function” and remains surrounded by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel who are managing him, a senior Israeli official has told Fox News as CNN reported he suffered a fractured foot, a bruised left eye and facial lacerations on the opening day of the war, and questions mount over who is directing the Islamic Republic.
The Israeli official, cited by Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst, said Israeli intelligence is actively working to determine the full extent of Khamenei’s injuries.
Iranian officials have offered conflicting accounts. Iranian officials told Reuters that although Khamenei was lightly injured, he continued to operate. A source familiar with the matter told the Jerusalem Post that assessments indicate he remains capable of carrying out his duties and managing state affairs.
But six days after he was appointed supreme leader, Khamenei had still not been seen in public, had not released a video or audio recording, and had not been photographed since taking office. His continued invisibility has raised a central question that analysts across the region are now asking openly: Who is running Iran?
Fractured Foot, Bruised Eye, Facial Lacerations
A source with knowledge of the situation told CNN that Khamenei suffered a fractured foot, a bruise around his left eye, and minor lacerations to his face in the same wave of US-Israeli strikes on February 28 that killed his father, his mother, his wife and other family members.
Iran’s ambassador to Cyprus, Alireza Salarian, confirmed to the Guardian that Khamenei “was also there and he was injured in that bombardment.” Salarian added that he did not think Khamenei would be comfortable giving a speech “in any condition,” saying he has never been a natural public speaker.
Yousef Pezeshkian, son of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and a government adviser, said in a Telegram post that he had heard Khamenei was injured but had been told by friends with connections that the new leader is “safe and sound.”
Iranian state television referred to Khamenei as “janbaz of the Ramadan War”, the Persian term for a wounded war veteran,n without providing further details.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon press conference on Friday that Khamenei “is wounded and likely disfigured,” adding that his first statement had “no voice, and there was no video; it was a written statement.”
President Trump had said earlier in the week he was “not happy” with the appointment, adding: “I don’t know if it’s going to last. I think they made a mistake.”
‘The AI Supreme Leader’
The absence of any verified footage of Khamenei since his appointment has created an information vacuum that Iranian state media has filled in an unusual way.
As reported by CNN, government news outlets and state-backed social media channels have been circulating AI-generated videos of Khamenei delivering speeches to large crowds and standing beside his father at key historical moments,s scenes that never actually occurred. Other AI images show the elder Khamenei passing the mantle of the revolution to his son, or Mojtaba embracing slain IRGC general Qasem Soleimani.
“They’re calling him the AI supreme leader,” one man in Tehran told CNN mockingly.
Doctored images of Khamenei as a cardboard cutout sitting in the seat of power have circulated widely on social media, alongside memes mocking the mystery surrounding his whereabouts.
Influential cleric Mahmoud Karimi attempted to reframe the elusiveness as a virtue, declaring from his pulpit that “it says enough about his character that no one has ever seen him.”
IRGC Managing the State — Collective Leadership Discussed
The more significant question, analysts say, is not whether Khamenei is injured but whether Iran can function without a visible supreme lead, er and the evidence increasingly suggests it can, because the IRGC is already directing wartime strategy regardless of his presence.
As reported by Euronews, discussions have emerged within parts of Iran’s political establishment and among some clerics in Qom about temporarily restoring a collective leadership structure until Khamenei can fully assume his duties, though such a move would likely face strong resistance from the IRGC itself.
Some analysts say what matters most in Tehran right now is not the visibility of the supreme leader but the cohesion of the institutions beneath him.
Powerful security bodies such as the IRGC are likely directing wartime strategy regardless of Mojtaba’s presence.
Raz Zimmt, head of the Iran programme at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, told RFE/RL that the question was whether Khamenei would be capable of maintaining daily contacts with the political and security establishment to preserve the regime’s ability to function.
“It’s very obvious that the Iranian regime is fighting for its survival. They know very clearly that Mojtaba Khamenei might become the next target by either Israel or the United States, and so he should hide,” Zimmt said.
Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, told CNN that Khamenei’s appointment could be read as a message to Washington and Jerusalem that military pressure is “not going to get us to shift position.”
Election Was Forced Through — Irregularities Confirmed
The circumstances of Khamenei’s appointment have also attracted renewed scrutiny. According to Wikipedia’s account of the election, eight Assembly of Experts members boycotted a second session over what they described as “heavy pressure” by the IRGC in favour of Mojtaba.
Members described the atmosphere at the online meeting as “unnatural”: Those who presented arguments against Khamenei were given limited time to speak, discussion was cut off, and a vote was then held.
UK-based Amwaj Media reported that the late leader’s will set conditions for his successor, including prior experience in high-level governance and electoral legitimacy criteria that Mojtaba allegedly did not meet.
According to Amwaj, his appointment was pushed through by Hossein Taeb, former head of the IRGC’s intelligence organisation and a close ally, with the Assembly of Experts reportedly influenced by Guards’ pressure.
Opposition to his selection reportedly came from figures including the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani.
US Sanctions, Israeli Target — A New Leader Already in the Crosshairs
Khamenei was not unknown to Western governments before his appointment. In 2019, the US Treasury sanctioned him for allegedly working closely with the IRGC to advance his father’s “destabilising regional ambitions and oppressive domestic objectives,” as reported by CNN.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, stated last week that any leader appointed by the Iranian regime would be “an unequivocal target for elimination.” The US has placed a $10 million bounty on Khamenei and nine other senior Iranian officials through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program.
More than 15,000 Iranian targets have been struck by US and Israeli forces since February 28, according to Hegseth’s Pentagon briefing on Friday. Iran’s Health Ministry puts the death toll at 1,444 killed and 18,551 injured.
Senior Iranian sources previously told Reuters that the IRGC forced through Khamenei’s appointment over the objections of clerics and reformist politicians. Analyst Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute warned that Khamenei “is not going to be as supreme as his father was,” given his dependence on the Revolutionary Guards.
Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Khamenei has no choice but to remain hidden. “Killing him early is certainly an Israeli priority. If he survives, he becomes a totem, a testimony to the resilience of the system,” Hokayem said.
President Trump has said there is “practically nothing left to target” in Iran and that the war will end soon, a claim at odds with Khamenei’s first statement, which threatened to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, warned of attacks on US bases and vowed revenge for every Iranian killed. Operation Epic Fury continues.
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This is a developing story. Updates will follow as more facts are confirmed.
