Signs of Life: Tehran Signals Continuity at Home and Abroad 

With Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei absent from public view since the Israeli bombardment of the supreme leader’s headquarters on February 28, the regime appears increasingly compelled to provide signs of life, perhaps explaining his mother-in-law’s claim that she saw him at the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral. Such claims, however, cannot indefinitely substitute for clarity. Should Mojtaba be dead or incapacitated, the regime will eventually have to make the legal and organizational adjustments required by his absence. Meanwhile, Quds Force Chief Brigadier General Esmaeil Qaani has reappeared after his own prolonged absence, reassuring Iran’s nonstate allies of Tehran’s continued commitment to them. In both cases, appearances and assurances address immediate uncertainty but only temporarily: Tehran must eventually demonstrate continuity at home and deliver material support abroad.

• October 1: The mother of the late Zohreh Haddad-Adel, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife, claimed in an interview with Jamaran News, which is affiliated with the Khomeini family, that she personally saw Mojtaba at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral service. 
• October 2: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported remarks made by Quds Force Chief Esmaei Qaani, on the second anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese Hezbollah leaders, discussing Iran’s nonstate allies:  
  • “Although the situation has been difficult, by God’s grace and power, the Resistance Front continues to move forward … Iraq has today expelled the United States and, God willing, through coordination among the government, the country’s various institutions, and the sons of the resistance, will move toward its future with greater security, strength, and sovereignty … The Islamic Republic of Iran has not forgotten its friends or the oppressed peoples subjected to injustice by the United States and the Zionist regime, even at the height of the war. It has stood by them to this day and will continue to do so in the future.” 

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