Iranian diplomat Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi told NDTV that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is healthy, continuing to work and attended his father's funeral, as accounts distinguish between the public prayers and the later burial.
Ilahi said he was in Iran for the funeral and that Khamenei “was there also.” He called the leader “very, very, very healthy.” NDTV published the interview remarks Oct. 23.
The Assembly of Experts appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's third leader in a statement dated March 8. At the public funeral prayers in Tehran on July 5, Mojtaba was not seen, the Associated Press reported. Reuters reported that three of Ali Khamenei's sons attended the prayers but did not list Mojtaba among those it identified.
The burial took place later. IranWire reported that Ali Khamenei was buried at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad on July 10. Tayyebeh Mahroozadeh, Mojtaba Khamenei's mother-in-law, said in a video interview published by Akhbar Mashhad that she saw him there that night. IranWire said the account included no recent visual or audio material to corroborate the sighting.
President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS News in an interview recorded Sept. 25 and aired Sept. 27 that he had met Khamenei twice, with the latest meeting lasting more than seven hours. Pezeshkian said Khamenei had no specific ongoing health problems and said, “From a medical standpoint, he’s completely healthy.” Ilahi separately told NDTV that Pezeshkian had met the leader for seven hours “last week.” The CBS transcript does not date the meeting Pezeshkian described, so the accounts do not establish whether they concerned the same encounter.
In August, Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency released video that appeared to show Khamenei speaking, but the recording's date and location were not disclosed. The reports included no independent medical assessment of his health.
