Mojtaba Khamenei is now Iran's Supreme Leader. But on July 5, 2026, when his father Ali Khamenei's funeral took place in Tehran, Mojtaba didn't appear. No photos of him have been released since a February attack that killed his father and left Mojtaba himself badly wounded.

At the funeral, three of Ali Khamenei's other sons prayed over the coffins. Iran's president and parliament speaker were there too. One son, Masoud, wept visibly. But Mojtaba was not shown on state television. Not there at all.

Ali Khamenei's coffin sat on display under glass. Beside it lay the coffins of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and a one-year-old grandchild—all killed in the same attack. Massive crowds came to pay respects. The Tehran subway system recorded 7 million trips as people traveled to the capital. Representatives from 70 countries attended, and 600 foreign journalists covered the event, according to Iranian state media.

So Where Was Mojtaba?

Israel and the United States carried out the February 28 attack. According to Reuters, people close to Mojtaba said he suffered severe facial injuries and damage to one or both of his legs. That could explain why he didn't attend.

But there's another possibility. The Times of Israel reported that Iranian officials may have prevented Mojtaba from going to the funeral. Their reason? They feared Israel would try to assassinate him in front of all those people and cameras. According to this same report, Mojtaba wanted to perform religious rituals for his father but was not allowed to.

Here's the problem: Iran has said nothing official about any of this. Mojtaba's office has released no statement about his health or his absence. Nothing. That silence is unusual—and it's raising concerns inside Iran about whether the country actually has a functioning leader right now. This matters because Iran just ended a four-month war and is trying to negotiate with the United States.

Where the Funeral Goes Next

The burial plan was announced weeks ago. After Tehran, Khamenei's body travels to Qom on July 7, then to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq on July 8. It returns to Iran on July 9 for a procession in Mashhad, where Khamenei will be buried at the Imam Reza Shrine—one of the holiest places in Islam for Shia Muslims. The government arranged transportation and food to help thousands of people attend each ceremony.

Where someone is buried says something about who they were. Burying Khamenei at the Imam Reza Shrine frames his life within the deepest sacred tradition of Iranian Islam. Right now, others have to do that framing for him—because he's not visible.

Even the United States noticed. President Trump told Axios that peace talks with Iran are paused for a week because of the funeral. That's significant: four months ago, these two countries were fighting each other. Now the ceasefire holds, but the negotiations have stopped while Iran mourns.

The bottom line: No one outside Iran—and possibly no one inside it—knows exactly what's wrong with Mojtaba Khamenei or when he'll be seen in public again. He's officially the Supreme Leader. But a leader people can't see is a leader whose authority is in question. What happens next depends partly on whether he can show his face to the nation soon.