The leader who cannot show his face

Mojtaba Khamenei issued yesterday what Iran presented as his first public message since assuming the role of supreme leader. Another person read the statement on state television, with a photograph of Khamenei displayed on screen. He pledged to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed as a "tool of pressure" and warned that attacks on US bases in the region would continue until those bases are shut down. It is the speech one would expect from a Khamenei successor: defiant, maximalist, leaving no room for negotiation.

The problem is the format. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said today he believes Mojtaba is wounded, "likely disfigured," and hiding underground "like rats". Vance confirmed he is hurt but admitted they do not know exactly how badly: "It's obviously a very chaotic environment over there". Netanyahu added that the new supreme leader "cannot show his face in public." If all of this is true, the address was not a speech but a press release read by a proxy, suggesting Mojtaba cannot or will not appear before cameras.

It is a detail that matters more than it seems. The supreme leader in the Iranian tradition is not just an office: it is a presence. Khamenei the elder ruled for 36 years in part because he was visible, accessible to the faithful, present at Friday prayers. A supreme leader who governs from a bunker, wounded, communicating through intermediaries, is a radically different figure. He can issue orders, but he cannot embody the state. And in a theocratic regime, that difference is not a small one.