The powerful son of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is now widely tipped to be his father’s successor, apparently was treated for “impotency” and had trouble finding a wife, according to diplomatic leaks.
Mojtaba Khamenei, now 56, reportedly underwent treatment at the Wellington and Cromwell Hospitals in London after struggling to conceive a child with his wife, according to the US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in the late 2000s.
His apparent impotency required at least four extended stays in the medical facilities — including a final one that lasted two months — before his wife got pregnant, the files state.
“His marriage, to the daughter of former Majles Speaker Hadad Adel, followed two ‘temporary marriages’ (available under Iranian law) and occurred relatively late in life, reportedly due to an impotency problem treated and eventually resolved during three extended visits to the UK, at Wellington and Cromwell Hospitals, London,” the cable stated.
“Mojtaba was expected by his family to produce children quickly, but needed a fourth visit to the UK for medical treatment; after a stay of two months, his wife became pregnant.”
Eventually, his wife gave birth to a healthy boy back in Iran, according to the resurfaced documents, which were first reported on by the Daily Mail.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many children Mojtaba ended up fathering.
Mojtaba, a largely secretive figure within the Islamic Republic, has long been considered a contender to become the country’s next paramount ruler — even before the US-Israeli strike killed his father and the younger Khamenei’s wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, on Saturday.
In the same diplomatic cable that laid bare his apparent impotency issues, Mojtaba was once referred to as “the power behind the robes.”
He “is widely viewed within the regime as a capable and forceful leader and manager who may someday succeed to at least a share of national leadership; his father may also see him in that light,” the cable read.
In the wake of Saturday’s strike, Mojtaba was initially believed to have been among the 40 top Iranian aides killed alongside his despotic 86-year-old father, who ruled Iran with an iron grip for decades.
Iranian sources, however, have since said Mojtaba is still alive and in hiding as American and Israeli airstrikes continue to pound Iran.
“He (Mojtaba) is alive … he was not in Tehran when the supreme leader was killed,” one of the sources said.
With Post wires
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