“I don’t even think it was his message,” an Iranian woman in her 40s told the BBC after her country’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei gave his first official address in the form of a statement read out on state TV.
Having not seen him since he was named leader, some are now casting doubts on who is running the country.
“I feel like control of the country is in the hands of the IRGC [Islamic Revolution Guard Corps],” the woman, from Tehran, said.
Khamenei, through the conduit of a TV presenter, vowed in his statement on Thursday that Iran would keep the Strait of Hormuz closed to international shipping – choking the supply of a fifth of the world’s oil.
He also said that his government would “not forgo avenging the blood” of citizens killed since the war with the US and Israel began, saying retaliation so far represented only “a limited portion” of what was to come. He said had been made aware of his appointment as supreme leader via state TV.
But Khamenei has yet to be seen in-person – nor filmed or photographed – since being named as his father’s successor.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said, without providing evidence, that Khamenei had been “wounded and likely disfigured” in one of the first air strikes on Tehran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with his wife and other son.
His lack of visibility was brought up by some of those who spoke to BBC Persian following the broadcast.
“It was surprising that he did not issue even a voice memo and raised doubts about his condition,” one Tehran resident, in his 30s, said.
“To me this message raised more doubts than bringing any clarity about his condition,” he added.
Another man from Tehran, in his 20s, said: “I still haven’t seen him to have an opinion about him. To be honest, we don’t know much about him.”
A third man remarked that he was “not even convinced that he [Mojtaba Khamenei] has written the message himself”.
Meanwhile, a woman in her 20s from Rasht, in northern Iran, observed acerbically: “Wow, very heartwarming that he didn’t even appear on state TV to issue the message.”
It is still very difficult to contact people inside Iran due to a government-imposed internet blackout, but some are able to connect briefly to the outside world through satellite uplinks.
Many of those who do tend to be anti-regime. We have anonymised their comments for their safety.
Despite dissent towards the Islamic regime that has run Iran since 1979 being writ large in mass demonstrations that engulfed the country earlier this year, it still has its fervent supporters.
Crowds took to the streets of central Tehran on Friday for pro-establishment rallies to mark Quds Day – an annual event established by the Islamic regime to demonstrate support for the Palestinian cause and opposition to Israel. Many of those on the streets held photos of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iranian outlets have since published several photos and videos of officials who appeared among them, including Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani.
Khamenei’s message on Thursday also called on Iranians to participate in rallies to help “confront the enemy”.
BBC Persian and BBC Verify have verified footage showing an explosion in the Iranian capital near the crowd. The Israeli military had earlier issued an evacuation warning for an area close to where rallies were taking place in Tehran.
In one video, Mohseni Ejei is seen as giving an interview to state TV when a blast happens nearby, with the crowd chanting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”).
Others who spoke to the BBC felt Khamenei’s message meant very little was likely to change in the war that has seen near-constant waves of air strikes.
Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, said on Tuesday that thousands of civilian sites had been destroyed by the strikes, including schools and housing. The US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) group says nearly 1,800 people have been killed in the conflict, around two-thirds of whom were civilians.
