Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei more involved in Iran’s strategy, says president

TEHRAN – Iran’s president said new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to make a public appearance since replacing his assassinated father in March, is becoming more involved in directing the government’s strategy.

Masoud Pezeshkian said he now has “greater access” to Khamenei and all government actions are based on the supreme leader’s guidance, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Iran’s policies will continue under Khamenei’s leadership, Pezeshkian said during an event on July 21.

The remarks are a sign senior Iranian officials are keen to show that the 56-year-old Khamenei is active in state affairs and in charge of major decisions, including over the war with the US.

Khamenei is thought to have been injured, and possibly maimed, in the same airstrike that killed his father, Ali, on the first day of the conflict on Feb 28.

The younger Khamenei has made only written statements since he was elected as supreme leader around March 9.

Most of his messages suggest he wants to take a hard line against the US and Israel, and ensure the Islamic Republic keeps control over maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

Pezeshkian’s comments came as hostilities between the US and Iran worsened, with the sides skirmishing daily and an interim peace deal from mid-June having all but collapsed.

Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, visited Pakistan – one of the main mediators in the war – on July 21 for talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on a path forward.

It was unclear if the US asked Pakistan to reach out to Iranian officials to ease tensions.

Pezeshkian said Khamenei had stressed in private meetings the need to end the “neither war, nor peace” situation, without elaborating.

The president and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is the chief negotiator with the US, have both defended the so-called memorandum of understanding signed in June in the face of criticism from Iranian hardliners.

Many of them say the former supreme leader’s death must be avenged and that the Americans can never be trusted to adhere to the terms of any diplomatic deal. BLOOMBERG