Iranian state media claimed on Wednesday that Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf met and held talks with the enigmatic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, marking a rare reported encounter with a leader who has remained out of public view since a late-February airstrike.
The Islamic Republic News Agency cited the information portal of the Supreme Leader’s office to report that Ghalibaf and Khamenei discussed military, economic, and psychological warfare attributed to American and Israeli adversaries. According to the state-backed report, Khamenei used the meeting to stress the importance of strengthening national power, preserving social cohesion through lawmakers, maintaining a deterrent public presence, and fostering collaboration between the government and parliament to tackle economic and livelihood challenges.
Mojtaba Khamenei was installed as Supreme Leader by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in March following a February 28 airstrike that killed his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Although state media acknowledged early on that the younger Khamenei had been wounded, no verifiable medical information or independent verification of his condition has been released.
Before Wednesday’s announcement, the regime’s efforts to prove Khamenei is alive have faced widespread skepticism. The IRGC previously released a supposedly handwritten letter from Khamenei to IRGC Aerospace Force commander Gen. Majid Mousavi in August. Critics quickly noted multiple irregularities, including an implausible timeline where a copy was presented to another official five days before the letter’s supposed creation, as well as discrepancies when compared with confirmed handwriting samples from Khamenei’s youth.
While a small circle of civilian and clerical officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohsen Heydari al-Kathir, have previously claimed to meet with Khamenei to vouch for his survival, subsequent reports have cast doubt on whether those interactions actually occurred. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to acknowledge Khamenei’s continued survival during an address to graduating Israel Defense Forces officers on Wednesday.
Netanyahu asserted that the younger Khamenei has chosen to follow his father’s path in developing nuclear capabilities, declaring that the only permanent solution is regime change in Iran. He confirmed directing the IDF, Mossad, and security branches toward that objective.
Following the reported meeting, Ghalibaf published social media remarks directed at the United States, utilizing unconventional phrasing reminiscent of cinematic imagery to warn of severe economic and military consequences if further actions are taken against Iran.
