Tehran-based Hamshahri newspaper, citing a report by Farhikhtegan newspaper, conveyed details of recent high-level meetings between Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Kalibaf and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei to send a message that "there is no vacuum in government management." Notably, while the headline names Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's son Ayatollah Seyyed Mujtaba Khamenei as the interlocutor in these meetings, the news text itself consistently refers to the meetings using only the phrase "Supreme Leader"; this ambiguity makes it unclear exactly who the text is discussing.
According to Farhikhtegan, Kalibaf touched on details about economic management in the meeting: that leadership warned against macroeconomic indicators being exaggerated or underestimated, that attention was drawn to the people's purchasing power and the security of the supply chain. According to Kalibaf, the issue of essential goods supply and production continuity was raised with him in this meeting for the third time. Mohseni-Ejei stated that information is gathered from different channels and not relied upon from a single source, that instructions were given regarding uncompromising anti-corruption efforts, reducing livelihood hardships, and solving the people's problems. The report also mentioned a message sent on November 4 to scientists and athletes, emphasizing fundamental sciences, university-industry cooperation, and artificial intelligence.
The report describes these meeting accounts as "kilometers away" from claims produced by "rumor-generating factories"; in doing so, it provides an indirect response to previously circulated rumors. However, the report contains no independent verification of either the Supreme Leader's health condition or of when, how, or with exactly whom the meetings took place; the claims rest entirely on Hamshahri and Farhikhtegan's own narrative and therefore remain unconfirmed.
Context
Farsçadan reported on October 23 that Seyyed Mujtaba Hoseini, a member of the Assembly of Experts, stated that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's wounds had healed and that his non-appearance was due to security reasons (see the Supreme Leader's health status report). Today's report adds a new link to this rumor chain; but this time the name of Khamenei's son and presumed successor, Ayatollah Seyyed Mujtaba Khamenei, also enters the center of the matter. In Iran, the question of who holds the official leadership position and in what condition—during a continuing war—is closely monitored both domestically and internationally, as seen in the CIA leak claiming Israel asked the Trump administration to kill Kalibaf. The name ambiguity in this report also serves as an example of how the matter is being presented to the public.
Seyyed Mujtaba Khamenei has long been counted among possible successors to his father; however, Iran's constitutional system stipulates that the next Supreme Leader will be elected by the Assembly of Experts, and there is no official succession mechanism. Kalibaf and Mohseni-Ejei, whose names appear in Hamshahri's report, are the heads of two of Iran's three branches (legislative and judicial) and are among frequently cited figures for conveying such "continuity of government" messages. During a period when the war is ongoing and economic pressure is mounting, the leadership's reduced public visibility fuels speculation both domestically and internationally; the frequency with which the official media responds to this speculation has noticeably increased during this period.
