Iran narrowly avoided a catastrophe when the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, survived a devastating Israeli strike that killed his father and dozens of top officials.
According to the New York Post, leaked audio from a meeting about the Feb. 28 attack on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound revealed that Mojtaba was inside the compound in Tehran with his father but stepped outside for a brief walk in the garden just minutes before the missiles struck.
“God’s will was that Mojtaba had to go out to the yard to do something and then return,” Mazaher Hosseini, head of protocol for Khamenei’s office, reportedly told Iranian leaders during a private March 12 meeting.
“He was outside and was heading upstairs when they struck the building with a missile. His wife, Ms Haddad, was martyred instantly.”
Hosseini said Mojtaba suffered only a “minor injury to his leg,” sparing him from the carnage that claimed many others. Among the dead were Iran’s military chief, Mohammad Shirazi, who was “blown to pieces,” and Khamenei’s son-in-law, whose head was reportedly split in two by the blast.
The leaked audio revealed that at least three missiles were used in the strike.
One hit Ayatollah Khamenei directly, another struck Mojtaba’s home on an upper floor, and a third targeted the residence of his brother-in-law Misbah al-Huda Bagheri Kani.
Hosseini described the strike on Misbah’s room as “so powerful that it went downstairs… it cut his head in half.”
Mostafa Khamenei, the eldest son, survived with his wife, emerging from the devastation unharmed.
The leaked information has fueled speculation about Mojtaba’s condition.
President Donald Trump, speaking on Monday, suggested the new leader might be severely injured or possibly dead.
“A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg, one leg, and he’s been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead,” Trump said. “We haven’t seen him at all… Nobody’s seen him, which is unusual.”
