Iranian media continues to focus on Mojtaba Khamenei, reporting Sunday that President Pezeshkian met and held talks with the Supreme Leader. According to the Fars News Agency, the two discussed the country’s economic and military issues.
2+The report comes after two significant developments over the weekend. The first came Friday, when two sources close to the government claimed that rumors about Khamenei’s serious medical condition are intensifying and that his death is approaching. A medical source added that he wouldn’t be surprised to hear news of the leader’s death.
The second came Saturday, when in response to the two sources, Iranian media released what they claim is the first current video of Khamenei since he took the leadership position. Now, the Iranians continue trying to present a picture of the Supreme Leader functioning and living normally.
2+This isn’t the first time Pezeshkian and Khamenei were reported to have met. Already last week it was reported that the two senior officials met—after heavy pressure from the president to hold the meeting. According to sources the report is based on, Pezeshkian was taken to an unknown hiding place in Tehran. There he was placed in the back seat of a commercial vehicle with dark windows, where the Supreme Leader was allegedly waiting.
The conversation between the two lasted only a few minutes, after which the president was asked to leave. One of the most unusual details in the report is that Pezeshkian didn’t see Khamenei’s face at all. According to sources, the leader’s security didn’t allow him to shake his hand, and the two could only hear each other’s voices. Thus, the president conducted the conversation without receiving any visual confirmation of the identity of the person he was talking to.
2+Meanwhile, Iran made a slight change in its military leadership when the Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Mohsen Rezaei was appointed as the representative of the leader of the revolution to the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, replacing Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr.