Iran: Ayatollah appears in public, contrary to rumors of health deterioration

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appeared in public, countering unconfirmed publicized claims that his health had significantly deteriorated, the Times of Israel reports. At a meeting in Tehran Wednesday, Khamenei addressed the family of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a US drone strike this year, and senior Iranian military leaders.

The well-known London-based Iranian journalist Momahad Ahwaze recently tweeted that the Ayatollah suffered a downturn in his health and that those around him were “very afraid.” However, an Iranian regime official denied this claim last week, the Times of Israel said.

Moreover, Iran State TV denied there had been a meeting of Iran’s Assembly of Experts on Leadership, the body of clerics responsible for appointing the supreme leader, the Times of Israel reports.

Video footage of Wednesday’s meeting at the Imam Khomeini congregation hall shows that 81-year-old Khamenei and those gathered all wore face masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also practiced social distancing, sitting 5 meters apart, the Times of Israel said. Among other officials gathered was parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

According to the Times of Israel, Khamenei’s last public appearance prior to Wednesday had been on November 24. The Ayatollah was successfully treated for prostate cancer in 2014.

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