Has Mojtaba Khamenei combined a Goodfellas communication style with a tyranny by committee method? Or have sources talking to the New York Times spun a fantasy to cover up an IRGC coup in Iran, using the Nepo Babytollah as a cardboard cutout – literally?
BREAKING: In the official "allegiance ceremony to Mojtaba Khamenei", they could bring only a cardboard cutout of him.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 9, 2026
He is reportedly unconscious after an assassination attempt.
pic.twitter.com/RReHNVa25R
Maybe we can call Khamenei the chairman of the (card)board in Iran, if one takes this NYT explainer at face value. Farnaz Fassihi's sources acknowledge that Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and his henchmen run the country now, but insist that Mojtaba runs the "board" that makes all decisions. That alone would be a striking change from the Islamic Republic's previous structure, Fassihi notes, where the ayatollah made all decisions. Even at face value, the picture painted by these sources is that of a cleric trapped by the generals, assuming Mojtaba's alive at all:
Mr. Khamenei’s killing on the first day of the war created a void and an opportunity. The Guards rallied behind Mojtaba in the succession struggle that ensued and played an instrumental role in his selection as Iran’s third supreme leader.
The Guards have multiple levers of power. The commander in chief is Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. Gen. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the newly appointed head of the Supreme National Security Council, is a former hard-line commander of the Guards. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, a commander, has served as the top military adviser to both father and son supreme leaders.
“Mojtaba is not supreme; he might be leader in name, but he is not supreme the way his father was,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director of the International Crisis Group who has extensive contacts in Iran. “Mojtaba is subservient to the Revolutionary Guards because he owes his position and he owes the survival of the system to them.”
In other words, even if Mojtaba is alive, he's a sockpuppet for Vahidi. This is a theocracy only in form now, and maybe not even that is true. Functionally, this is now a pure military dictatorship, and if Mojtaba is alive at all, he's more or less the clerical mascot of Vahidi. His descent to sidekick status at best has been suspected nearly since news of his father's death and his lack of visibility as a successor, even after supposedly being elected by the Assembly of Experts, who also seem conveniently silent. Convenient, that is, for Vahidi.
In that sense, it may not matter whether Mojtaba is dead or alive. Either way, he's Vahidi's sock puppet, and maybe more useful dead for Vahidi's purposes so that Vahidi can issue fatwas in the name of the Supreme Leader without all the messiness of actually having one. Fassihi's sources insist that Nepo Babytollah is alive and acting as a "manager," but the description of the mechanics only misses the hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall's doorstep. Big Paulie Cicero would have been jealous:
Senior commanders of the Guards and senior government officials do not visit him, fearing that Israel may trace them to him and kill him. President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is also a heart surgeon, and the minister of health have both been involved in his care.
Though Mr. Khamenei was gravely wounded, he is mentally sharp and engaged, according to four senior Iranian officials familiar with his health. One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak, the officials said, adding that, eventually, he will need plastic surgery.
Mr. Khamenei has not recorded a video or audio message, the officials said, because he does not want to appear vulnerable or sound weak in his first public address. He has issued several written statements that have been posted online and read on state television.
Yeah, well, maybe. This raises another question about Fassihi's sources, though. If no one gets to see Mojtaba except maybe Pezeshkian, how is Mojtaba "managing" anything? Vahidi and his henchmen apparently have no direct contact in a situation that is highly fluid; this process would leave Mojtaba so far out of the loop, he might as well be dead. And why would they risk letting Pezeshkian visit Mojtaba if they're worried about Israel attempting a decapitation strike? Pezeshkian is traceable too. Even if this is on the level, it sounds like Vahidi's a lot more worried about Vahidi than either Pezeshkian or the Nepo Babytollah.
This looks like an elaborate but self-contradicting ruse to cover up a military coup in Tehran. It's not even a particularly good effort, either, but perhaps enough to convince regular readers of the New York Times.
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