U.S. and Israeli Strikes Wound Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Opening Day of War

Reports indicate that Iran’s newly announced supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded in his legs on the opening day of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, a development first noted in reporting that cited Israeli and Iranian officials.

“Just days into his tenure of Iran's highest office, reports have mounted that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the U”

Newsweek

Times of Israel relayed that "Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded in his legs on the opening day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran," while Newsweek notes the 88-member Assembly of Experts convened to confirm him on Sunday as the successor to his father.

Newsweek

Those accounts place the injury and the succession announcement squarely on the war’s opening day, though full details about the circumstances remain limited in the cited reporting.

U.S. and Israeli leadership signalled divergent public stances about targeting the new supreme leader: President Donald Trump has publicly criticised the choice of Khamenei and suggested the White House should have input on Iran’s leadership, yet he "declined to divulge whether or not he would now go after the new supreme leader," according to Newsweek.

By contrast, Israeli military and political figures have been more explicit about pursuing successors: Newsweek cites an IDF Persian-language warning that "the hand of the State of Israel will continue to pursue every successor," and the Times of Israel highlighted reporting that tied the injury to opening-day strikes, underscoring Israeli involvement in the operation’s opening phase.

Newsweek

Israeli political voices and analysts framed the succession and attack in stark terms but differed on immediate intentions: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told CNN he would take a "wait-and-see" approach on whether Khamenei would be considered a target,

“Just days into his tenure of Iran's highest office, reports have mounted that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the U”

Newsweek

while other Israeli figures and analysts warned about the new leader’s links to the Revolutionary Guards and the risk of even harderline policies.

Newsweek quoted an analyst, Zimmt, saying Khamenei’s survival would depend on whether U.S. and Israeli leadership "ultimately choose to pursue him" and warned that he "presents no real change from his father" and "might be even ... more hardline."

Observers highlighted uncertainty about motives, capabilities, and future risks: Newsweek recorded concerns that, unlike his father, the new leader "is necessarily going to take that much more seriously" the threat of being targeted and noted fears he "might take risks with which his father didn't want to take, for example, the nuclear issue."

The reporting underscores both a tactical question—whether U.S. and Israeli forces would or could target the successor—and a strategic one about how his survival or death would affect regional dynamics,

Newsweek

while the Times of Israel write-up ties his injury to the opening strikes but leaves details and broader implications incompletely detailed in the cited pieces.