Reports claim Iran’s leader in Coma. His office shares photo of meeting envoy

On By Littum

Amid reports that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is in a coma, Iran’s supreme leader posted a photo on Sunday of himself meeting an Iranian ambassador.

Several media outlets recently claimed that Khamenei, 85, was in a coma and that he had nominated his 55-year-old son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as his successor in a secret meeting. The reports came after The New York Times said in October that Khamenei was “gravely ill”.

In the photo on Khamenei’s X account, he was seen talking to Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani in his office.

“Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, met and spoke with Mr. Mojtaba Amani, the veteran ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Lebanon, at noon today on the sidelines of his daily meetings,” he wrote in Persian.

Amani was among nearly 3,000 people injured when pagers and walkie-talkies used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah group exploded in Lebanon in September. At least 39 people were also killed in the attack, which Iran and Hezbollah blamed on Israel.

Amani presented a report on her latest health status to him, an official statement said.

Last month, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered his first sermon in five years after Iran fired 180 missiles targeting critical infrastructure in Israel.

He said Israel “will not last long” as he supported the Palestinian and Lebanese movements against Israel in his rare sermon on October 5.

Addressing tens of thousands of followers at a mosque in Tehran, Khamenei justified his missile strikes on Israel as a “public service”.

Holding a gun as he spoke, the Iranian leader declared that Israel would not prevail over Hamas or Hezbollah.

Iran supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, which are engaged in fighting with Israeli troops on its southern and northern fronts.