Mystery in Iran: Will Mojtaba Appear at His Father’s Funeral?

Starting tomorrow, Friday, Iran will begin a week of funeral events for former Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated by Israel in February. Next Thursday, he will be laid to rest in his hometown, Mashhad. According to a report in Iran, the country is preparing for an estimated 10 million people to take part in the ceremonies. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that he will attend the funeral.

The biggest mystery is whether Ali’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, will be present at the ceremonies or at the funeral itself. According to a report in Iranian opposition media, no Iranian official has confirmed this. As a reminder, since the Israeli strike in which his father was killed and he himself was wounded, Mojtaba has not been seen or photographed. While the regime insists that the new supreme leader is alive and in hiding out of fear for his life, Western intelligence officials are casting serious doubt on that claim. The concern is that Tehran is concealing a death or complete incapacitation.

At the same time, the commander of the central "Khatam al-Anbiya" headquarters, General Ali Abdollahi, issued a new threat today against the U.S. and Israel. According to him, "Our enemies must think very carefully about the response of our armed forces to any threat or aggression directed against our territory. We warn our enemies, especially the U.S. and the Zionist entity, against making any miscalculation."

In addition, Iran’s emergency headquarters, Khatam al-Anbiya, said that "the Strait of Hormuz is not a playground for the U.S., but a sovereign territory of Tehran. All oil tankers and commercial vessels are required to pass only through the route it has designated."

They later threatened that "any failure to comply with Iran’s navigation protocols in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and decisive response from the armed forces. The continued presence of American fighter jets over the Strait of Hormuz endangers the security of the entire region."

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi announced the conclusion of the round of negotiations that took place yesterday in Doha, Qatar. He said that the sides "discussed in Doha America’s violation of its commitments under the memorandum of understanding regarding the end of the war in Lebanon. The Iranian delegation noted that the commitments included in the memorandum of understanding are one package and should not be treated separately. It was decided to establish an immediate communication channel for the monitoring group tomorrow in order to report violations related to the memorandum of understanding."