New Delhi [India], April 28 : Dismissing "rumours" surrounding the health of the Supreme Leader of Iran, his Deputy Representative in India, Dr Mohammad Hossein Ziyaeenia, on Tuesday said that the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is in "a good situation and fine".
"The situation of our Supreme Leader, Hazrat Ayatollah Sayyid Mojtaba Khamenei, is, thanks to God, good. According to the communication that we had a couple of days ago, he is in a good situation, he's fine," Ziyaeenia said in an interview with ANI.
He noted that any speculation concerning his health is wrong. "All these rumours that his health is not in a good situation and he has some problems - these are not authentic, and he is fine," Ziyaeenia added.
Reiterating Iran's stance on the West Asia conflict, he said Iran has stated that it did not start the war with Israel and the United States and will end it.
"From the very beginning of the war, we stated the famous sentence from our late Supreme Leader Hazrat Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei: 'Americans, the enemies, started this war, but we are the ones who will finish this war; we will decide how this war will finish,'" he said.
The New York Times had reported last week that Mojtaba Khamenei has largely remained out of public view following the February 28 airstrikes on the compound of the former Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, where he had been residing. The attack also led to the deaths of his wife and son.
Since then, access to Mojtaba Khamenei has been highly restricted, with only a limited circleprimarily medical personnelattending to him as he recovers from injuries sustained in the strikes, The New York Times reported.
Answering a query about efforts to end the West Asia conflict and the role of Russia, China, and India, Ziyaeenia said "every country can play a role, positive or negative"
"Everyone is worried about the price of gas or oil. But no one is worried about the price of the lives of the people who are getting killed," he said.
He noted that people of Iran are united and reports and suggestions about internal tensions in Iran are made by those who are unaware of the government system in his country and those "trying to hide the truth from the audience".
He said that the Iranian government system is not dependent on a single person because it is a Republic.
"This question has been raised by the Western media. There are two reasons for this question. Number one is not being aware of the government system in Iran. Number two, trying to hide the truth from the audience. The Iranian government system is not dependent on a single person because this is a republic... So it's not that there is a single figure in command in Iran and the country would collapse without him. There is a hierarchy there," he said.
"So when such questions arise, it shows that either it's coming from a background that is not familiar with the system in Iran... One year ago, because of the unjust sanctions put on us by our enemies, there was some division in Iran. After this war, there is no division. The people have now understood that the source of those economic problems was coming from outside... That's why they want to create division inside Iran because they see that the people of Iran are united," he added.
He was asked about reports of internal tension in Iran.
Iran and the US have been observing a tenuous ceasefire since April 7 after the conflict between Iran and Israel-US that started on February 28. The conflict has caused global energy supply disruptions.
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