Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, canceled all conferences and public appearances final week after falling gravely sick and is at the moment on mattress relaxation below statement by a staff of medical doctors, in accordance with 4 individuals acquainted with his well being scenario.
Mr. Khamenei, 83, had surgical procedure a while final week for bowel obstruction after struggling excessive abdomen pains and excessive fever, one of many individuals stated. The 4 individuals, two of whom are primarily based in Iran, together with one who has shut ties with the nation’s Revolutionary Guards, requested anonymity for discussing a delicate difficulty like Mr. Khamenei’s well being.
Mr. Khamenei underwent the surgical procedure at a clinic arrange at his residence and workplace advanced and is at the moment being monitored across the clock by a staff of medical doctors, the particular person acquainted with the operation stated. The ayatollah’s situation was thought of important final week, however has improved, and he’s at the moment resting, the particular person stated. His medical doctors are monitoring him across the clock and stay involved that he’s nonetheless too weak to even sit up in mattress.
As supreme chief, Mr. Khamenei wields big authority in Iran and can be the ultimate arbiter on points just like the nuclear deal that’s at the moment being negotiated with the USA. A former president of Iran and protégé of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the revolution that led to the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, Mr. Khamenei assumed the place of the nation’s prime non secular, political and army authority in 1989.
Tasnim information company, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, posted a brief item on Friday saying Mr. Khamenei will attend a spiritual ceremony with college college students on Saturday. However it wasn’t clear if it might happen, given his well being.
Mr. Khamenei traveled to the non secular metropolis of Mashhad about two weeks in the past to carry out a ritual often called mud cleansing on the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. He went right into a secluded space of the shrine, cleaned it and positioned his head on a tombstone in an indication of prayer and submission. A photo of him on the shrine was printed by Iranian media.
Mr. Khamenei informed the individuals touring with him that he felt it may be his final time on the shrine, given his age, in accordance with one of many 4 individuals, who was acquainted with the small print of his journey. He bought sick quickly after arriving again in Tehran, and his scenario deteriorated over the previous week, the particular person stated.
His workplace canceled all conferences final week, and in addition an necessary annual assembly with the Meeting of Consultants — the physique that can resolve his alternative as soon as he dies — on Sept. 6 as a result of he was too sick to take a seat up, in accordance with 4 individuals acquainted with his well being situation.
A member of the Meeting of Consultants, Hashem Hashemzadeh Harissi, informed an Iranian newspaper that “on this spherical, not like earlier rounds, the members of the Meeting of Consultants didn’t meet with the supreme chief” as a result of it might “be a heavy burden on him.”
Whereas Mr. Khamenei’s scenario prompted some hypothesis in Iran and amongst opposition teams exterior the nation in current days that he had died, the nation’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, traveled to Uzbekistan for a regional safety assembly, and analysts stated he would probably have canceled his journey if the ayatollah’s life had been in peril. Mr. Raisi can be scheduled to journey to New York for the United Nations Normal Meeting, the place he can be talking on Wednesday.
Iran normally doesn’t remark publicly on Mr. Khamenei’s well being. However in 2014, he underwent prostate surgical procedure, and his restoration was broadly lined within the official media.
Iran’s United Nations mission in New York stated it couldn’t instantly remark with out getting approval from Tehran.