Mojtaba Khamenei still unseen: Ghalibaf's claimed meeting and a missing will

Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed on Wednesday 21 October 2026 that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, had met and held talks with Mojtaba Khamenei, the Islamic Republic's leader. However, no photo or video of the meeting was released; a pattern that has been repeated many times since Mojtaba Khamenei was named as his father's successor, and no new audio or image of him has been broadcast to date.

According to Tasnim's claim, the two discussed the latest developments in the military and economic conflict with the United States and Israel and stressed "strengthening national authority", the role of MPs in social cohesion, continued public presence at state-organised rallies and efforts by the government and parliament to solve livelihood problems. No independent body has confirmed the meeting.

A will that was never found

At the same time, Saeed Solh-Mirzaei, a member of the Assembly of Experts, claimed that Ali Khamenei's will has "still" not been found more than seven months after he was killed in the bombing of 27 February. According to him, the will was being rewritten, there was no other copy, and its file, kept on a computer in the leader's office, was destroyed in the attack.

This claim does not fit the known practice for political wills; such documents are usually kept in several identical copies in different places. Nor had any official said such a thing in the past seven months.

A leader who is not seen

Mojtaba Khamenei's long absence continues while the Islamic Republic is under the pressure of war, a naval blockade and new US sanctions. Benjamin Netanyahu said this very week that the Islamic Republic under Mojtaba Khamenei has again moved towards a nuclear weapon, and within the regime the rift between Ghalibaf's faction and the Paydari Front over ending the war has also become more visible.

Reports of officials meeting a leader who does not himself appear before the camera, and talk of a will that has vanished, have sharpened questions about who in practice makes decisions at the top of the Islamic Republic.

Seven months after his succession, Mojtaba Khamenei has still not been seen in any new image.