Kremlin declines to comment on reports that Mojtaba Khamenei is in Moscow hospital

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has declined to comment on media reports that Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has been transferred to Moscow for medical treatment after he was severely injured in the Israeli airstrike that killed his father on 28 February, TASS reported on Monday.

The claim was first circulated by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida on Sunday, after widespread reports that Khamenei was severely injured in the attack that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei late last month.

Citing a “high-ranking source close to the new Iranian supreme leader”, Al-Jarida claimed that Vladimir Putin personally offered Khamenei medical treatment in the Russian capital during a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday, after which, it said, a Russian military plane flew the new supreme leader to Moscow later the same day.

When asked about Al-Jarida’s claims during a press briefing in Moscow on Monday, Peskov said that the Kremlin did “not comment in any way on such reports”.

Initial American claims that Mojtaba Khamenei had been “disfigured” in the Israeli attack on the Khamenei compound in Tehran were first substantiated on Wednesday by Iran’s own ambassador to Cyprus, Alireza Salarian, who said in an interview that the younger Khamenei had been “lucky to survive the strike”, which killed six of his family members.

The new ayatollah reportedly sustained severe injuries to his leg, arm and hand. As a result of his condition, his first public address to Iranians after his appointment on 8 March was delivered by proxy, with a newsreader reading a prepared statement on Iranian state TV.

One of Russia’s closest allies in the Middle East, Iran enjoys a close “strategic partnership” with Moscow against US and NATO interests in the region. Putin immediately condemned the US assassination of Ali Khamenei as a “cynical murder”, and pledged Russia’s “unwavering support for Tehran” during its efforts to “resist armed aggression”.

Mojtaba Khamenei would not be the first Middle Eastern leader to be evacuated to Russia in times of crisis. After rebels toppled Syria’s government in December 2024, the country’s Moscow-backed dictator, Bashar Al-Assad, was flown into exile in the Russian capital, where he is currently reported to be living in a luxury apartment complex.