According to reports from Kuwaiti media, Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader has been urgently transported to Moscow for a critical leg surgery. This follows a series of dramatic developments in Iran’s leadership.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who is 56, ascended to the role of Supreme Leader after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on February 28. However, there have been numerous reports indicating that Mojtaba has been in a coma since an airstrike. Some observers, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, have speculated that he might have already passed away.

Amidst this turmoil, Mojtaba Khamenei reportedly remains unaware of the ongoing conflict in his country and his new status as Iran’s leader.

His medical condition necessitated urgent attention, leading to his transport to Russia for surgery. The procedure was reportedly arranged through a direct offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by the news outlet Al-Jarida.

The mission to evacuate the new Ayatollah from Iran was conducted with utmost secrecy. Mojtaba was discreetly flown out of the country aboard a Russian military aircraft.

After arriving in Russia, he was taken to one of Putin’s presidential palaces where the surgery took place. Reports indicate that the operation was successful.

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.

Iran’s injured new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, pictured, has reportedly been rushed to Moscow for emergency leg surgery, Kuwaiti media claim

His injuries have required him to be flown to Russia for an operation ‘personally offered by Putin’

It is unclear whether Mojtaba was injured in the same air strikes which killed his 86-year-old father.

A separate source told The Sun through secret messages sent to an exiled dissident based in London: ‘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.’

The source, who does not want to be named out of fear for his life, said the new Supreme Leader is 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.

Meanwhile, 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.

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.’

Questions about Mojtaba’s whereabouts 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.’

The newly declared Ayatollah’s statement added that Iran was seeking to improve relations with its neighbours: ‘We send a message to the leaders of the region and emphasise that we are going to have good relations with the countries around us.’

His declaration called for all American bases in the region to be immediately closed in his shared message: ‘The existence of the US bases in [Iran’s neighbours] and usage of those bases to attack Iran is not benefiting the region, and they must be closed.’

He also said Iran will seek compensation from its enemies or destroy their assets accordingly, and offered financial compensation to those in Iran who have been hurt by the outbreak of violence: ‘A limited amount of this revenge has so far taken concrete form, but until it is fully achieved, this case will remain among our priorities.’

The Supreme Leader’s only public statement was read on state TV by a news anchor, pictured 

The Iranian leader hinted at Iran’s proxies in the region supporting his fight against the US and Israel, claiming that armed groups in Iraq ‘want to help’ his nation, while those in Yemen ‘will also do the job.’

He also spoke of the loss of many members of his family during the US-Israeli airstrike that killed his father: ‘I lost my father, I lost my wife. My sister lost her child as well as her husband, who was martyred.

‘But what makes it easier for us to endure all these plights is to trust the grace of God and to know that patience is going to resolve it.’

While the new Supreme Leader has also not been seen for weeks, Iran is being run by regional commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who are believed to be under orders to fight on indefinitely – even without a leader.