The Israel Defense Forces said they ‘destroyed’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s private plane, while his successor Mojtaba Khamenei is reportedly in Moscow for treatment of ‘serious’ injuries.
In a statement on X on Monday morning, the IDF claimed the plane, which was targeted at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, was used by Ali Khamenei and other senior officials of the regime to ‘advance military purchases and manage communications with the Axis countries through domestic and international flights.’
‘The destruction of this plane damages the Iranian terrorist regime’s leadership coordination capabilities with the Axis countries, the process of strengthening military capabilities, and the regime’s ability to rebuild,’ the post added.
Meanwhile, new reports have claimed the late supreme leader’s son Mojtaba is in Moscow receiving treatment for injuries sustained during a joint US-Israeli airstrike.
Mojtaba, 56, succeeded his father Ali Khamenei following his assassination on February 28, but a string of reports have said he has been in a coma, with some observers, including President Donald Trump, suggesting he is dead.
Khamenei is apparently unaware both that there is a war on and that he is the country’s new leader.
His injuries have required him to be flown to Russia for an operation ‘personally offered by Putin’, according to Kuwaiti news outlet Al-Jarida.
The mission to sneak the new Ayatollah out of the country was intended to be top secret and involved him boarding a Russian military aircraft.
New reports have claimed the late supreme leader’s son Mojtaba (pictured) is in Moscow receiving treatment for injuries sustained during a joint US-Israeli airstrike.
The IDF wrote on X that they had destroyed the plane, ‘damaging the Iranian terrorist regime’s leadership coordination capabilities with the Axis countries’.
He then headed to one of Putin’s presidential palaces where he underwent ‘successful’ surgery.
The report remains unconfirmed, but Al-Jarida claims it received its information from a ‘high-ranking source close to the new Iranian Supreme Leader’.
Khamenei was injured early in America’s Operation Epic Fury, the source added, and his injuries could not be treated in Iran while the country is under constant attack from the US and Israel.
It is unclear whether Mojtaba was injured in the same air strikes which killed his 86-year-old father.
A separate source previously told The Sun through secret messages sent to an exiled dissident based in London that the heir is in ‘very serious’ condition and being trreated at Sina University Hospital in Mashhad.
‘One or two of his legs have been cut off. His liver or stomach has also ruptured. He is apparently in a coma as well,’ they added.
The source, who does not want to be named out of fear for his life, said the new Supreme Leader was under the care of Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, Iran’s Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education and one of the country’s top trauma surgeons.
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said on Friday he believes Mojtaba is wounded.
‘We know the new so-called, not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured,’ Hegseth told a press conference.
US President Donald Trump further fanned the flames over the weekend, telling NBC News: ‘I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him.’
He said he had heard a ‘rumour’ of his death, 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…
‘Some of them think he’s alive but very badly wounded.’
US President Donald Trump said he had heard a ‘rumour’ of Mojtaba’s death
An explosion erupts following strikes near Azadi Tower close to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran on March 7
Meanwhile on Sunday, an Israeli security official told the Daily Mail bluntly: ‘We know where he is.’
The security official added: ‘I recommend not following every report Iran puts out.’
Israel previously vowed to assassinate any Iranian leader picked to succeed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Writing on X on March 4, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said: ‘Any leader selected by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan for Israel’s destruction, threatening the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and suppressing the Iranian people, will be a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides.’
So far, Iranian officials have confirmed the new leader is wounded but have given no further details.
Other reports suggest that Iranian commanders have not received orders from their new supreme leader.
An Iranian official speaking from inside the war-torn country told The Telegraph: ‘No one knows anything about Mojtaba, whether he is alive or dead or how badly injured.
‘We are all just told that he’s injured. He has no control over the war because he is not here. The majority of commanders, or more correctly, all commanders, have no news about him.’
Speculation on his whereabouts and health have only intensified since he issued his first statement on the war on Thursday.
However, he did not appear on camera, and a news anchor read his remarks.
The statement said that Iran would not refrain from avenging the ‘blood of its martyrs.’
The Iranian leader added that while he believes in maintaining a friendship with Iran’s Gulf neighbours, attacks on US bases in the region will continue.
He said: ‘We are not an enemy of the countries around us, and we are only targeting the bases of those Americans.’