Another Khameini Is Now in Hiding, and Reportedly Injured

Iran's new supreme leader has yet to show his face, and both Iranian and Israeli officials say there's a physical reason why. Three days after Mojtaba Khamenei was declared successor to his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Feb. 28, the 56-year-old remains unseen and silent. Three Iranian officials say he was wounded, including in the legs, in attacks launched that same day by Israel and the US, and is now in a heavily secured location with restricted communications, per the New York Times. Two Israeli military officials say their intelligence also indicates he suffered leg injuries.

The severity of his supposed wounds is unclear, though state media have referred to him as a "wounded war veteran." Iran has already begun elevating his image on banners and murals, even as key questions linger, including whether he has fully assumed his powerful role and how he intends to rule. Mojtaba Khamenei—long a behind-the-scenes figure tied closely to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which will now have to answer to him, per the AP—was already considered a prime target; Israel's defense minister has said any successor to his father would be. "It does not matter what his name is or where he hides," Israel Katz noted last week, per the Times of Israel.