Almost a week after being appointed as Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei remains in the shadows.
Iranians got their first glimpse into his thinking on Thursday, when a lengthy statement attributed to him was read out on state television. The next day was his first Friday as president and al-Quds Day, the day when Iran’s supreme leader usually makes public appearances. But Mojtaba did not do so.
Six days have passed since he was appointed supreme leader, and Iranians have yet to see him or hear his voice.
Mojtaba suffered a broken leg, bruised left eye and minor lacerations to his face nearly two weeks ago on the first day of a U.S.-Israeli artillery campaign, the same wave that killed his father and other top Iranian generals, people familiar with the situation told CNN.
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian’s son and government adviser later wrote that Mojtaba was injured but in a safe location and doing well, based on reports from officials. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said without providing any evidence that “appearances may be compromised” and Israel had previously suggested its new supreme leader could be a target.
His absence did little to dampen the enthusiasm of regime loyalists, thousands of whom took to the streets to pledge allegiance. The pledge has become a rallying cry as the regime seeks to consolidate support through mass demonstrations, especially in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan.
But the continued absence of Iran’s new leader raises deeper questions about who is truly running the country in times of war.
Mojtaba Khamenei operated largely behind the scenes and exerted influence during his father’s nearly 40 years of rule, but rarely appeared in public. His invisibility, now thrust into Iran’s most powerful position amid military conflict with the United States and Israel, underscores the changing nature of power in the Islamic republic. In the Islamic Republic, organizations and security services may be more important than individuals at the top.
shadow leader
State-backed religious hymns have used their pulpits to urge believers to pledge allegiance, and influential cleric Mahmoud Karimi has made Khamenei’s elusiveness a virtue rather than a weakness, going so far as to declare that “the fact that no one has seen him says enough about his character.”
The new leader’s lack of presence, both literally and figuratively, has drawn derision among regime critics.
A doctored image of Mojtaba Khamenei as a cardboard cutout sitting in a seat of power circulated widely on social media, along with memes mocking the mystery surrounding his whereabouts.
With little verified footage of the new leader, government media outlets and state-backed social media channels have resorted to disseminating AI-generated videos of him to drum up support.
The video shows the new leader addressing a large crowd and standing next to his father at a key moment, a scene that did not actually occur. Other AI photos show Ayatollah Khamenei passing on the revolutionary flag to his son, and Mojtaba Khamenei embracing slain Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
“They call him the supreme leader of AI,” one man in Tehran said mockingly.
Political culture shaped by myth and history
Mojtaba Khamenei has spent years behind the scenes of Iran’s vast political and security apparatus, but was rarely seen or heard from during his father’s nearly 40 years of rule.
His sudden rise during the war, combined with the uncertainty of his whereabouts, evokes images deeply embedded in the mythology of the Islamic Republic and the Shiite theology in which it is rooted.
Historian Arash Azizi said the “symbolic killing” of the late Ayatollah Khamenei gave the regime a useful image of Shiites.
“They would naturally try to use the same theme with Mojtaba, whose position as the son of a ‘martyr imam’ who was himself wounded is similar to that of the Shiite saints in the battle of Karbala,” said Azizi, a lecturer and historian at Yale University.
Iran’s political culture has also been shaped by decades of war and crisis. Just a year after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, starting a brutal eight-year conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people and reshaped the country’s politics.
So far, regime supporters have shown little public concern about the absence of a new leader, and appear ultimately content to wait for one to emerge.
This experience led many regime supporters to understand wartime constraints.
Sanam Baqir, head of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House think tank in London, said regimes can survive for periods of time without appearing in public.
“Lack of visibility does not necessarily undermine legitimacy in the short term, especially if key institutions continue to function and decisions appear to be coordinated,” he said.
Some analysts say the most important thing in Tehran right now is not the supreme leader’s popularity but the unity of the organization below him. Powerful security services such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are likely to direct wartime strategy regardless of Mojtaba’s presence.
According to plans already in place, his appointment to the top of the political hierarchy may be enough to give the military leadership, led by the Revolutionary Guards, the political legitimacy needed to continue what the regime calls its “Ramadan war.”
“Even if he eventually appears in public and recovers from his injuries, it is likely that these elements, and not Mojtaba himself, will be at the helm of Iran,” said Azizi, the historian.
For now, there is little urgency to parade the new leader in front of the cameras. He is already fulfilling the objectives required by the regime.
What remains to be seen is what will happen after the war ends.
“But in the post-war period or in more difficult circumstances, not only the public but also the political elite will need a clearer signal that the president can exercise his powers,” Baqir said.
For now, his whereabouts remain secret. And few of his supporters ask why. A new leader has a goal on his or her back.
