The United States estimates that the new supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “alive” and “increasingly involved” in the country's leadership, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, according to the AFP and EFE agencies, quoted by Agerpres.
“I haven't seen him in public, and I imagine that after what happened to a lot of the regime's leaders, being very visible in public is not something that is recommended domestically,” Marco Rubio told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, referring to the serial killing of Iranian officials in the airstrikes launched by the US and Israel against Iran on February 28.
Rubio claims that there is a difficulty in conveying messages among Iranian officials, as they stay hidden and choose ultra-secure means of communication in order not to be located and killed in turn by the US or Israel, but Mojtaba Khamenei has a growing role in decision-making in Tehran.
“I think there are signs that show that he is getting more and more involved at a certain level, even if all his communications are done in writing and through third parties,” said the head of American diplomacy.
Critically injured after an Israeli bombardment of a compound in Tehran on the first day of the war, Mojtaba Khamenei has never appeared in public or on video since he was named supreme leader on March 8, credited only with written messages. He took the place of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in that Israeli attack.
