TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has met with security chief Mohsen Rezaei to discuss regional security and the Strait of Hormuz, the leader’s office announced on Tuesday. Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since taking office in March, succeeded his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The elder Khamenei was killed on February 28 in U.S.-Israeli strikes in central Tehran that also claimed the lives of senior military commanders; Mojtaba was reportedly injured in the same attack.
Since his appointment, the supreme leader has communicated only through written messages, some of which have been circulated in handwriting attributed to him. Tuesday’s meeting marked the first publicly announced encounter between Rezaei and the leader. According to a statement from Khamenei’s office, the two discussed “strengthening bilateral relations with neighboring countries” and “safeguarding national and regional security through the management of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The statement added that Khamenei “emphasized the need to safeguard the rights and interests of the Iranian nation and the resistance front by adhering to the conditions set by the country’s authorities, with the aim of ending the war and the state of neither war nor peace.”
The meeting was disclosed one day after Rezaei held talks with senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan—countries that recently signed the mutual defense Makkah Pact. Neither the date nor the location of the meeting was disclosed.
Iran asserts control over the Strait of Hormuz and regularly targets vessels that attempt to cross without its authorization, while the United States has imposed a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis remain stalled, particularly following the collapse of a June agreement that laid out a pathway to a permanent settlement.
Several Iranian officials, including Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, have in recent days said they held rare meetings with the supreme leader.
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