According to four persons acquainted with his health state, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has cancelled all meetings and public appearances for the last week after becoming dangerously unwell. He is presently on bed rest and is being observed by a team of specialists.
One of the persons reported that Ayatollah Khamenei, who is 83 years old, had surgery sometime in the last week for intestinal blockage after experiencing excruciating stomach pains and a high temperature. In order to discuss such a delicate topic as Ayatollah Khamenei’s health without being identified, the four individuals, two of whom are located in Iran and one of whom has significant relations with the Revolutionary Guards of that nation, asked to remain anonymous.
According to a source with knowledge of the procedure, Ayatollah Khamenei had surgery in a clinic that was established up at the complex that houses both his home and office, and he is now being followed around the clock by a group of medical professionals. According to the individual, the ayatollah’s health has improved since last week, when it was thought that he was in a serious state. He is presently sleeping. His medical team is still worried about the fact that he is so weak that he cannot even sit up in bed.
Ayatollah Khamenei has the position of supreme leader of Iran, which gives him enormous power and makes him the ultimate decision-maker on contentious matters such as the nuclear agreement that is being discussed with the United States at this time. In 1989, Ayatollah Khamenei, a former president of Iran and a protégé of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the revolution that led to the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, assumed the position of the country’s top religious, political, and military authority. Khomeini was a protégé of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was the founder of the revolution that led to
On Friday, a short article was published by the Tasnim news agency, which is linked with the Revolutionary Guards. The article said that the ayatollah will attend a religious ritual on Saturday with university students. Given his current state of health, however, it was unclear whether or not it would go forward.
Approximately two weeks ago, Ayatollah Khamenei embarked on a journey to the sacred city of Mashhad in order to carry out a ceremony known as dust cleaning at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. He walked to a remote part of the shrine, cleaned it, and then put his head on a gravestone as a symbol of supplication and surrender to the deity there. Iranian media outlets distributed a photograph that showed him visiting the shrine.
According to one of the four persons, who was aware with the specifics of his journey, Ayatollah Khamenei shared with the people going with him that it was possible that it might be his last time visiting the shrine because of his advanced age. According to the information provided by the individual, he became ill not long after he returned to Tehran, and his condition has worsened over the course of the previous week.
According to four people who are familiar with his health condition, his office called off all of the meetings that were scheduled for the previous week, as well as an important annual meeting that was scheduled to take place on September 6 with the Assembly of Experts, which is the body that will decide who will succeed him once he passes away.
In recent days, some people in Iran and among opposition groups outside the country have speculated that Ayatollah Khamenei had passed away. However, the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, travelled to Uzbekistan for a regional security meeting, and analysts said that he probably would have cancelled his trip if the ayatollah’s life had been in danger. A trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where Mr. Raisi is due to deliver a speech on Wednesday, is also on Mr. Raisi’s itinerary.
The Iranian government does not often make any public statements on Ayatollah Khamenei’s health. However, he had surgery to remove his prostate in 2014, and his rehabilitation was extensively documented in the official media.
The Iranian delegation to the United Nations in New York said that it was unable to speak immediately without first receiving authorization from Tehran.
