Iran's newly appointed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen in public since the start of the war with the United States and Israel, and U.S. intelligence assessments suggest he was badly wounded in the strike that killed his father, "Hvylya" reports, citing the Washington Post.
Khamenei issued only a written statement on Friday marking Nowruz, the Persian new year - a format that stood in sharp contrast to the public appearances typically expected of a supreme leader during a national crisis. The statement offered no indication of his physical condition or whereabouts.
His absence comes amid an accelerating campaign of targeted assassinations. Within the past week, Israeli strikes killed four senior Iranian officials, including Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and IRGC spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini. A European official said the wave of killings was testing whether Iran's system could function after losing the individuals it was built around.
Yet the decapitation campaign has not produced the diplomatic opening Washington might have hoped for. Iran's remaining leadership has shown no appetite for negotiations, insisting that the U.S. and Israel must halt attacks before any talks can begin.
Senior officials struck a defiant tone during Nowruz on Friday. Beneath the rhetoric, however, officials in the region say Iran's leadership is grappling with deep concerns about the country's ability to recover from the extensive damage already inflicted - military infrastructure leveled, senior leadership eliminated, and over 1,200 civilians killed. Analysts have argued that Mojtaba Khamenei's rise has been driven more by personal vengeance than political vision.
Also read: Iran's Supreme Leader Replaced by His Wounded Son: What Comes Next for the Region.