Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei 'Secretly Flown To Moscow' For A Life-Saving Surgery: Report

Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was reportedly flown out of Tehran to Moscow for life‑saving leg surgery after being badly wounded in a drone strike, according to claims published by Kuwaiti newspaper Al‑Jarida on Saturday, 15 March. The paper, citing what it described as a high‑ranking source close to the leadership, alleged that Khamenei was moved in secret to Russia and operated on in one of President Vladimir Putin's palaces.

For context, questions over Mojtaba Khamenei's condition have been swirling since he took power following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in reported Israeli‑US strikes at the start of the current conflict. The new leader has not appeared in public since his succession, and officials in Tehran have issued only sketchy updates while foreign governments and US president Donald Trump have openly speculated about whether he is alive at all.

Mojtaba Khamenei Rumours Deepen After 'Secret Moscow Surgery' Claims

Al‑Jarida reported that Mojtaba Khamenei had been 'snuck out of Iran' for top‑secret treatment after suffering serious injuries in a previous air attack described as operation Epic Fury. The same newspaper said its unnamed source claimed Putin personally proposed that the Iranian leader be treated in Russia on Thursday, with the transfer allegedly taking place later that evening.

According to the outlet, the surgery in Moscow has already been labelled a success and took place inside one of Putin's presidential palaces. None of that has been independently verified, and no visual evidence has been produced to back up the account. There is no confirmation from Russian or Iranian officials that Mojtaba Khamenei has left the country, let alone undergone surgery, so all such claims need to be treated with considerable caution.

The new report follows earlier, equally grim descriptions of the Supreme Leader's reported condition. A source quoted by the Sun, also unnamed, previously claimed Mojtaba Khamenei was in intensive care after a drone strike and alleged that 'one or two of his legs have been cut off' and that his 'liver or stomach has also ruptured.'

The insider further asserted that he was in a coma and had lost a leg in the attack. Those details, too, remain unconfirmed.

What can be said with any confidence is that there is a glaring information gap around a man now formally presented as the most powerful figure in Iran. Into that gap, anonymous sources and regional media are pouring dramatic accounts of amputations, secret flights, and palace operating theatres that no government has seen fit to corroborate.

Trump, Tehran And Conflicting Claims Over Mojtaba Khamenei's Health

Fears over whether Mojtaba Khamenei is even alive were amplified when Donald Trump told supporters he had received no proof the 56‑year‑old leader was still breathing. 'I don't know if he's even alive. So far, nobody's been able to show him,' Trump said, adding: 'I'm hearing he's not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that's surrender.'

It was an unusually blunt intervention, even by Trump's standards, and one guaranteed to draw a response from Tehran. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, duly pushed back, insisting: 'The Leader of the Revolution is in complete health and is fully managing the situation.' The ministry did not provide video or photographic evidence to support that statement, nor did it address the specific allegations of grave injury.

The only public communication attributed directly to Mojtaba Khamenei so far has done little to settle the matter. He issued what was described as his first statement on the war last Thursday, but the remarks were not delivered on camera. Instead, they were read out by a news anchor, with no images of the Supreme Leader himself. He did not discuss his health or say where he was, according to the Mirror.

That absence has become its own storyline. An Israeli assessment, cited in the same reporting, suggested Mojtaba Khamenei was injured in the initial onslaught that killed his father and other senior regime figures. On Friday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth joined the chorus, saying the Iranian leader was 'wounded and likely disfigured.' Again, no government has offered publicly verifiable evidence that would settle the question either way.