ANKARA: Iran’s top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has successfully undergone prostate surgery, Iranian state television said yesterday in a rare public report on the state of his health.
Khamenei, 75, told state television ahead of the surgery that “There is no reason to worry. Of course this does not mean that I don’t need people’s prayers”. State television said later the operation was successful.
“The operation took place without anaesthetic at a state hospital. The leader will stay at the hospital for a few days to recover like all other identical cases,” said the head of Khamenei’s medical team Alireza Marandi.
In 1989, Khamenei succeeded the original Supreme Leader and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He was Iran’s president for two successive terms from 1981-1989. In 1981, Khamenei survived an assassination attempt that paralysed his right arm.
Khamenei has constitutional authority or substantial influence over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government as well as the military and media. Some feel his departure could expose rivalries in the Islamic Republic.
“It would deepen the ongoing political infighting between various political camps in Iran. And obviously there is the danger of the Revolutionary Guards, which will want to cement their power by supporting a more radical candidate, succeeding Khamenei,” said a Tehran-based analyst. “Khamenei is the force behind the establishment. Without him, the system will collapse.”
Khamenei has repeatedly denounced the West, particularly the United States, over its actions against Iran’s disputed nuclear programmes and its broader Middle Eastern policy. But Khamenei has so far supported the talks between Iran and the six world powers on the nuclear programme, which Western countries suspect is aimed at seeking the capability to build a nuclear bomb. Reuters
