An Iranian health ministry official said on Monday that supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei suffered only superficial wounds in U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28, offering a rare account of the day he was injured. The 56-year-old has not appeared publicly since being named supreme leader on March 8, fueling speculation about his condition.

How badly was Mojtaba Khamenei wounded in the U.S.-Israel strike?

Health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said Khamenei sustained superficial injuries to his face, head and legs that required only one or two stitches. The wounds caused neither amputation nor any lasting medical problem, he said. From a clinical standpoint, Kermanpour described the injuries as not serious and requiring no special procedures.

What happened when Mojtaba Khamenei arrived at hospital?

Kermanpour told ILNA news agency that Khamenei arrived at an unidentified hospital at around 1:00 pm Tehran time on February 28 and entered the operating room alongside several other wounded individuals. He was discharged at around 2:00 am on March 1, though Kermanpour did not say where he was taken afterward. Khamenei had been fasting during Ramadan and, according to Kermanpour, refused to break his fast despite his injuries, waiting until iftar.

What is Mojtaba Khamenei’s health status now?

Mojtaba succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the February 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes that triggered retaliatory Iranian attacks across the region. In March, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mojtaba was “believed to be alive, wounded and disfigured.”

On May 7, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had met the supreme leader in a meeting that lasted two and a half hours. Three days later, Iranian state TV reported that the head of Iran’s military central command, Ali Abdollahi, had also met with Khamenei, who issued new directives on confronting the enemy.