Iran's new Supreme Leader 'in coma and lost a leg' after being 'seriously injured' in airstrike
Iran has been plunged into further crisis after it was revealed the country's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was seriously injured in an airstrike.
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The 56-year-old - the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - has not been seen since since becoming Supreme Leader on Monday. His father and wife both were killed in an Israeli air strike February 28 that started the war.
According to the Sun, the Iranian leader is currently in a coma after losing one or both of his legs, as well as sustaining serious stomach or liver damage.
On Thursday afternoon, he released his first written statement since taking over from his deceased dad.
It is unclear Khamenei was injured on the same day his father died but he is not directing the strategy.
He reportedly remains in intensive care at the Sina University Hospital in Tehran's historic quarter, with a section of the hospital sealed off and surrounded by security.
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The outlet also reported Khamenei is in a “very serious” condition under the care of Mohammad Reza Zafargjani.
Zafargjani is Iran’s Minister of health, Treatment and Medical Education but also one of the country’s top trauma surgeons and the regime’s most trusted physician
The source said in a message: “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.”
Many foreign nationals have been getting out of the Persian Gulf region since the war began, including over 45,000 UK citizens, the UK Foreign Office said.
Some 40,000 people returned to the United States, according to the American state department.
In addition to the nearly 500 people killed in Lebanon, Iran has said more than 1,300 people have been killed there and Israel has reported 12 people dead.
The US has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.
Overnight, two ships were struck off the coast of Iraq, near the port of Umm Qasr, killing one person and injuring 38 others, the head of the General Company for Iraqi ports said.
The explosions come after three cargo vessels were hit by “unknown projectiles” in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.
Iraq rescued more than 20 crew members from the two vessels, which both caught fire in the attacks and are still ablaze, according to Farhan al-Fartousi, Iraq's director general of the General Company for Ports.
Following the attacks, the country's oil ports have reportedly "completely stopped operations", while commercial ports continue to operate.
At the United Nations, the Security Council is to vote on Wednesday afternoon on the Gulf Cooperation Council resolution, according to diplomats.
The council, a six-nation regional bloc, said its own facilities were targeted in an Iranian attack last week on Bahrain.
The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, condemns Iran's attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. The measure calls for an immediate end to all strikes and threats against neighbouring states, including through proxies.
It would be the first Security Council resolution considered since the start of the war.