Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has refused to comment on reports that Iran’s new supreme leader has been secretly flown to Russia for life-saving surgery.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was reportedly critically injured in the Israeli strike on February 28 that killed six members of his family, including his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian sources have confirmed he was wounded, with Tehran’s ambassador to Cyprus telling The Guardian last week: “I have heard that he was injured in his legs and hand and arm … I think he is in the hospital because he is injured.”
The Russian president’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, failed to confirm or deny claims that Mojtaba had been smuggled out of Iran and was receiving treatment in a Russian presidential clinic. “We do not comment on such reports,” he said.
The reports, which first surfaced in Kuwait citing “Iranian sources”, said a senior aide close to the new leader told Al-Jarida newspaper that Mojtaba had been flown to Moscow on a Russian military aircraft in a “highly secret operation due to his health and security situation”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov in August 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov in August 2025
Upon arrival, he supposedly underwent a successful surgical operation before receiving further treatment in a hospital inside one of Putin’s presidential palaces. These claims have not been independently verified.
Israel has stated it “knows where he [Mojtaba] is” after US President Donald Trump suggested Iran’s new supreme leader may already be dead.
“I don’t know if he’s even alive. So far, nobody’s been able to show him,” Trump said on Saturday. “I’m hearing he’s not alive, and if he is, he should do something very smart for his country, and that’s surrender.”
Russia is suspected of sharing intelligence with the Iranian regime, assisting in strikes on Western military bases in the Middle East.
Lieutenant General Nick Perry, the chief of joint operations, told Defence Secretary John Healey on Thursday that it appeared Russia had provided tactical advice to Iran and its proxies.
Defence Secretary John Healey said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘is clearly likely to welcome this war more than anyone else’
Defence Secretary John Healey said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘is clearly likely to welcome this war more than anyone else’
“We have definitely seen the Iranian tactics of the use of their drones learnt from Russians – flying them much lower so they are more effective,” he said, adding that this has “proven problematic” because Shahed drones are becoming one of Tehran’s more effective weapons. “There is no doubt [the Iranian] tactics have changed,” he added.
Mr Healey said Putin’s “hidden hand” is likely aiding Iran in the war launched by the US and Israel on February 28. “No one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics, potentially some of their capabilities as well,” he said.
The defence secretary argued this was partly “because the one world leader that is benefiting from sky-high oil prices at the moment is Putin because it helps him with a fresh supply of funds for his brutal war in Ukraine”. He added that the Russian president “is clearly likely to welcome this war more than anyone else”. Read In Details