TEHRAN (Kashmir English): The wife of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, is still alive, Iranian state-media Fars News Agency said, days after she was reported to have died.
The ayatollah’s wife was reported to have died in a coma two days after an air strike on February 28, which also martyred Ali Khamenei.
But now, the Iranian state media is saying that reports of her death were incorrect.
Khamenei’s son and new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was injured in the attack and lost his wife, Zahra, and his teenage son, Mohammad Bagher. Ali Khamenei’s daughter and son-in-law were also killed.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s first message
In his first audio message after assuming the office as supreme leader, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, said that the tool of closing the Strait of Hormuz must be preserved, and warned that Iran could open “other fronts if necessary.”
Mojtaba vowed revenge for those killed in the conflict, saying Iran “will not refrain from avenging the blood of its martyrs, especially the martyrs of Minab.”
Khamenei thanked the country’s military for preventing the country from being dominated or divided, acknowledging their sacrifice, and outlined financial and other support for those harmed in the war.
“My sincere thanks go to our brave fighters who… with their crushing blows, have blocked the enemy’s path and made them abandon the illusion of being able to dominate our dear homeland and possibly partition it.”
‘All US bases should be closed’
Khamenei further warned that all US bases should be immediately closed in the region, or they will continue to be attacked.
“Iran seeks friendly relations with neighboring countries and would target only bases from which attacks are launched against it,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran will seek compensation from enemies or destroy their assets accordingly.
He stressed the need for solidarity among Iranians and overcoming differences.
In his first message, he said that we consider the countries of the ‘Resistance Front’ to be our best friends; they are an inseparable part of the Islamic revolution’s values.
Moreover, Khamenei offered condolences to Imam Mahdi, saying, “May God hasten his return, on the occasion of the soul-burning martyrdom of the great Leader of the revolution, the dear, wise Khamenei.”
“For me, to assume a position where two great Leaders, the Great Khomeini and the martyred Khamenei, have sat is a difficult task,” he was quoted as saying.
