Iran's new supreme leader survived US and Israeli airstrikes because he went outside for a walk in his garden minutes before his house was hit by missiles.
Leaked audio obtained by The Telegraph reveals that Mojtaba Khamenei was targeted in the same attack that killed his father and other members of the Islamic Republic's leadership. But he had stepped outside "to do something" moments before Israeli Blue Sparrow ballistic missiles struck his residence at 9:32 a.m. Iranian time on February 28.
A speech delivered by Mazaher Hosseini, the head of protocol for Ali Khamenei's office, to senior clerics and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) offers the first detailed account of what happened inside the supreme leader's compound when it was attacked.
A recording of his comments was leaked to The Telegraph and has been verified by the prestigious British outlet.
Hosseini revealed that Mojtaba Khamenei suffered a leg injury in the attacks, while his wife and son were killed instantly and his brother-in-law was beheaded.
The body of Mohammad Shirazi, the head of Khamenei's military bureau, was "dismembered into pieces." Only "a few kilograms of flesh" could be used to identify him, Hosseini said at the meeting held on March 12 in Tehran's Qolhak neighborhood.
Mojtaba Khamenei lived in the same compound as his father in the Iranian capital. It also housed a religious hall where Ali Khamenei gave speeches, as well as the homes of Khamenei's other children.
On February 28, Ali Khamenei and senior security officials were gathered for a meeting when missiles hit the complex.
Mohammad Pakpour, the head of the IRGC, Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran's defense minister, and Ali Khamenei were among those killed.
"God's will was that Mojtaba should go out into the yard to do something and then come back," Hosseini said.
"He was outside and going upstairs when they hit the building with a rocket. His wife, Haddad, died instantly," he added.
Hosseini said Mojtaba suffered only "a minor leg injury."
According to him, the attacks targeted several locations within the office complex simultaneously and appeared to be aimed at eliminating the entire Khamenei family.
"These devils had considered several locations within the office complex to attack, one of them being the house of the supreme leader. They hit the location with three missiles," Hosseini said.
Also hit were Mojtaba's house on the upper floor, as well as the residence downstairs, which belonged to his brother-in-law Misbah al-Huda Bagheri Kani, and the home of his brother, Mostafa, and his wife.
"The rocket was so powerful that it went down to where Misbah was, all the way to his room. The rocket hit him in a way that cut his head in half," Hosseini confessed.
Mostafa Khamenei and his wife were "close" to a third residence when it was also hit.
"Thank God there was some dust and debris, but they came out unharmed," says Hosseini.
None of Ali Khamenei's other children have appeared publicly since the attacks, and none issued congratulatory messages or pledges of allegiance when Mojtaba was elected as supreme leader.
He has not been seen since the start of the war. His only message to his people came in the form of a message read on state television, leading to speculation, including from Donald Trump, that he may be more seriously injured than Iran claims.
Military chief Mohammad Shirazi was targeted in an attempt to thwart succession planning, Hosseini claimed. Shirazi was considered the essential link between Iran's military command and the supreme leader.
"This dear man had information on all the military personnel. The enemy knew this, while they were hitting the supreme leader, they also hit him because they knew that he would replace those who had been killed, and when new commanders were appointed, they might have a chance to influence the rebels and the infiltrators and do something," he said.
"He was torn to pieces, they couldn't find anything of him, and in the end they found pieces of flesh and identified it as his body," says Hosseini.
The released audio comes amid questions about Mojtaba Khamenei's injuries and his ability to lead.
"We don't know if he's dead or not," Donald Trump said today.
An Iranian official said that military commanders had no information about the supreme leader's condition and that "all other commanders have no news about him."
US intelligence assessments suggest that Ali Khamenei had reservations about his son's successor. He considered Mojtaba "not very smart" and "unqualified to be a leader," according to CBS News.
Separately, there were also rumors about problems in his private life.
An unconfirmed report in the New York Post claimed that US intelligence had told Trump that Mojtaba Khamenei might be gay.
An Iranian official who spoke to The Telegraph said the US claim simply confirmed what was already widely known within Iran.
"This is not something the Americans should be telling us. Everyone knew that the supreme leader did not want Mojtaba to take over," he said.
"Mojtaba was elected, but this is against the will of the supreme leader and perhaps even against his will. We have not heard anything from him yet," he added.
"Their leadership is gone. Their second leadership is gone. Now their third leadership is in trouble and this is not someone even his father wanted at the helm," Trump said Friday.
Senior figures among Iran's non-clerical leadership had expressed opposition to the succession, with critics saying it resembled the monarchy that the 1979 Islamic Revolution was supposed to have replaced.
Mojtaba came to public attention at the age of 17, when he disappeared for a week in March 1985 while serving on the front lines of the Iran-Iraq war. At the time, his father had not yet ascended to the role of supreme leader.
Then, there was little evidence to suggest that the thin teenager, seen by IRGC commanders as unfit for war, would one day lead the country.
Ali Fazli, an IRGC commander during the war, later wrote in his memoirs: “His martyrdom is not a problem, but if he is captured, it will be very costly for us in terms of publicity.”
Mojtaba was later rescued.
He spent two months in London in 1998, accompanied by 20 bodyguards and a convicted serial killer, according to leaked interrogation recordings reviewed by The Telegraph.
Mojtaba Khamenei, his wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, her mother and an entourage, including maids, rented an entire floor of the Sheraton Grand Hotel on Park Lane, at a reported cost of more than £1 million, funded by the Iranian regime.
The visit was arranged so his wife could receive fertility treatment. She later gave birth to a son, Bagher. Both were killed in the February 28 attacks.
The group traveled with Saeed Emami, a senior intelligence operative linked to the assassinations of Iranian intellectuals and dissidents between 1988 and 1998. Emami died in custody in 1999 under circumstances that remain controversial.
