Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made his first public appearance since the start of the 12-day war with Israel, in which several leading Iranian political, military, and scientific leaders were struck in targeted killings by the Israeli military.
Iranian State TV on July 5 showed Khamenei waving to a chanting crowd as he entered a mosque located next to his residence in Tehran.
Khamenei attended ceremonies marking Ashura, an important Islamic day of commemoration, although state media it said he did not make a speech at the event.
Others at the event spoke of "resistance" to attacks and that Iran "would never surrender," echoing remarks made earlier by Khamenei, state media reported.
Khamenei, 86, once the omnipresent face of the Islamic republic, retreated into near-total seclusion during the war launched on June 13 by Israel amid reports that he was on Israel's hit list.
His only appearances -- a pair of video statements, the second apparently filmed in a bunker with downgraded production quality -- did little to reassure the nation.
US President Donald Trump said he had at least twice prevented attacks on Khamenei by the Israelis.
Trump once emphasized in a message in the midst of Israel's harsh attacks that the United States was aware of his whereabouts but that it had no intention of killing him.
The US military also conducted air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, claiming to have destroyed the facilities, although details remain difficult to confirm.
The supreme leader’s absence from view was the subject of social media speculation in Iran and occasionally the butt of jokes.
Despite the losses suffered by Iran – especially to its nuclear program and military leadership -- Khamenei claimed in a June 26 recorded message that Iran had won the conflict against Israel and the United States, a remark repeated by other state officials and media.
Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News anchor and right-wing media personality in the United States, on July 5 said he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian that would be made public "in a day or two."
In a video message on X, Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely and through an interpreter.
Carlson said he had also offered to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but had not yet had a response. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with Trump on July 7.
