Mojtaba Khamenei escaped death by seconds, leaked audio reveals
Iran’s new supreme leader survived US and Israeli air strikes because he stepped outside for a walk in his garden minutes before his home was hit by missiles.
Leaked audio obtained by The Telegraph reveals that Mojtaba Khamenei was targeted in the same attack that killed his father and other members of the Islamic Republic’s leadership. But he had gone outside “to do something” moments before Israeli Blue Sparrow ballistic missiles hit his residence at 9.32am local time on Feb 28.
An address delivered by Mazaher Hosseini, head of protocol for Ali Khamenei’s office, to senior clerics and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders provides the first detailed account of what happened inside the supreme leader’s compound when it came under fire.
A recording of his comments was leaked to The Telegraph and has been independently verified.
Mr Hosseini revealed that Mojtaba Khamenei suffered an injury to his leg in the strikes, while his wife and son were killed instantly and his brother-in-law was decapitated.
The body of Mohammad Shirazi, chief of Khamenei’s military bureau, was also “blown to pieces”. Only “a few kilos of flesh” could be used to identify him, Mr Hosseini told the meeting, held on March 12 in Tehran’s Qolhak neighbourhood.
Mojtaba Khamenei lived in the same compound as his father in the Iranian capital. It also housed a religious hall where Ali Khamenei would give speeches, as well as the homes of Khamenei’s other children.
On Feb 28, Ali Khamenei and senior security officials were gathered for a meeting when missiles hit the compound.
Mohammad Pakpour, the IRGC chief, Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s defence minister, and Ali Khamenei were among those killed.
Mr Hosseini said in the recording: “God’s will was that Mojtaba had to go out to the yard to do something and then return.
“He was outside and was heading upstairs when they struck the building with a missile. His wife, Ms Haddad, was martyred instantly.”
Mr Hosseini said Mojtaba sustained only “a minor injury to his leg”.
According to Mr Hosseini, the strikes targeted multiple locations within the office complex simultaneously and appeared aimed at wiping out the entire Khamenei family.
“These devils had considered several locations within the office complex to strike – one of them was the place of the supreme leader,” he said. “They hit that location with three missiles.”
Also hit were Mojtaba’s home on an upper floor, as well as the residence below, which belonged to his brother-in-law Misbah al-Huda Bagheri Kani and the home of his brother, Mostafa, and his wife.
“The missile was so powerful that it went downstairs where Mr Misbah was, it went to Mr Misbah’s room,” Mr Hosseini said. “The missiles were struck in a way that cut his head in half.”
Mostafa Khamenei and his wife were “nearby” in a third residence when it too was struck.
“Thank God some dust and rubble fell over, but they came out unharmed,” Mr Hosseini said.
None of Ali Khamenei’s other children has appeared publicly since the strikes, and none has issued congratulatory messages or pledges of allegiance when Mojtaba was selected as supreme leader.
He has not been seen since the start of the war or in the 18 days since his election. His only message to his people came in the form of a written message read on state television, leading to speculation, including from Donald Trump, that he could be more badly injured than Iran will admit.
Military chief Mohammad Shirazi was targeted in an attempt to scupper succession planning, Mr Hosseini claimed. Mr Shirazi was considered the crucial link between Iran’s military command and the supreme leader.
Mr Hosseini said: “This dear man had information on all military personnel.
“The enemy knew that, while hitting the supreme leader, hit him too because they knew he would replace those who had been killed, and when new [commanders] were introduced, they could get a chance to [influence] the rioters and infiltrators and do something.
“He was blown to pieces – they could find nothing from him, and at the end they found a few kilos of flesh and identified it as his body.”
The leaked audio comes amid questions about Mojtaba Khamenei’s injuriesand his ability to lead.
An Iranian official said military commanders had no information about the supreme leader’s condition and that “all commanders have no news about him.”
US intelligence assessments suggest Ali Khamenei had reservations about his son succeeding him. He considered Mojtaba to be “not very bright” and “unqualified to be leader”, according to CBS News.
Separately, there were also rumours of problems in his private life.
An Iranian official who spoke to The Telegraph said the American claim merely confirmed what was already widely known inside Iran.
He said: “This is not something the Americans should tell us. Everyone knew that the supreme leader did not want Mojtaba to become the leader.”
The source added: “Mojtaba was selected, but it is against the will of the supreme leader and maybe against his own will too. We still have not heard anything from him.”
Mr Trump said on Friday: “Their leadership is gone. Their second leadership is gone. Now their third leadership is in trouble, and this is not somebody that the father even wanted.”
Senior figures among Iran’s non-clerical leadership had voiced opposition to the hereditary succession, with critics saying it resembled the monarchy that the 1979 Islamic Revolution was supposed to have replaced.
Mojtaba first came to public attention at the age of 17, when he disappeared for a week in March 1985 while serving on the front line of the Iraq-Iran war. At the time, his father had yet to ascend to the role of supreme leader.
Then, there was little to indicate that the lanky teenager – viewed by IRGC commanders as hapless in war – would someday lead the country.
Ali Fazli, a commander of the IRGC during the war, later wrote in his memoir: “His martyrdom is not a problem, but if he is captured, it will be very costly for us in terms of publicity.”
Mojtaba was later rescued.
He spent two months in London in 1998, accompanied by 20 bodyguards and a convicted serial killer, according to leaked interrogation recordings reviewed by The Telegraph.
Mojtaba Khamenei, his wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, her mother and an entourage, including maids, rented an entire floor of the Sheraton Grand Hotel on Park Lane, at a reported cost of more than £1m, funded by the Iranian regime.
The visit was arranged so that his wife could receive fertility treatment. She subsequently gave birth to a son, Bagher. Both were killed in the Feb 28 strikes.
The group travelled with Saeed Emami, a senior intelligence operative linked to the murders of Iranian intellectuals and dissidents between 1988 and 1998. Emami died in custody in 1999 in circumstances that remain disputed.