Supreme Leader Khamenei footage to be released ‘in future’, Iran says as reports claim he is close to ‘dead’

Footage showing Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in public and meeting armed forces commanders will be released, a senior Basij official said on Sunday, as Iran seeks to push back against growing speculation over the health of their supreme leader.The footage will show Khamenei “among the people and out in the streets, as well as in meetings with the commanders of the armed forces,” Basij Organisation deputy Qasem Qoraishi was quoted as saying by judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency.Khamenei has not been seen publicly since he was appointed supreme leader in March, when he succeeded his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Iran.Iranian state media on Sunday also published an undated video purportedly showing Khamenei, although it was not immediately possible to establish when or where the footage was recorded.The moves come amid mounting questions over Khamenei’s health and his ability to govern. Senior Iranian sources have said he suffered facial disfigurement and other injuries in the February 28 strike that killed his father, the first day of US and Israeli air strikes on Iran.A recent report citing two sources close to President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration said senior Iranian officials would not be surprised if Khamenei died soon, claiming his condition was extremely critical.Questions over Khamenei’s condition have also been fuelled by conflicting accounts of Pezeshkian’s access to him.Pezeshkian said on July 21 that his interactions with Khamenei were increasing, but said in early August that communicating with the supreme leader was “very difficult”.Iranian state media said on Sunday that the president had nevertheless met Khamenei in late July. The meeting reportedly covered military affairs and the economy, including national resources, the rial, foreign-exchange reserves, energy consumption and economic ties with other countries.That followed a separate report that Pezeshkian had recently met a man presented to him as Khamenei in a darkened location, where he could hear but not see the person. The report said the president was left uncertain about whether the man was actually the supreme leader.Khamenei’s prolonged absence has therefore left an unusual question hanging over Iran’s leadership: not simply whether its supreme leader is alive, but how much authority he is currently able to exercise.The promised footage appears intended to answer at least part of that question.