Iran’s President Pezeshkian says he met Supreme Leader Khamenei

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday (May 7, 2026) he had met with the country’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since his appointment in early March.

Mr. Pezeshkian did not say when their meeting took place.

“What struck me most during this meeting was the vision and the humble and sincere approach of the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution,” the President said in a video broadcast by State television.

Mr. Khamenei, wounded in strikes on the first day of the West Asia war that claimed the life of his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei, has released only written statements since his appointment.

His 86-year-old father was killed after more than three decades at the helm of the Islamic republic.

Ali Khamenei himself had succeeded the founder of the republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

Mr. Mojtaba’s appointment by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body responsible for selecting the Supreme Leader, was announced by state television on March 9.

Since then, portraits of the 56-year-old have become ubiquitous in the streets of Iran, but the new leader has been conspicuous in his absence from the public stage, in stark contrast to frequent appearances made by his father.