Since an airstrike killed his father in March, Mojtaba Khamenei has led Iran without once appearing in public. Reading the regime’s own channels, what emerges is a leader who exists almost entirely as text.

In nearly three months not a single photograph, video, audio clip, or sample of his handwriting has been released to prove he is alive and governing. I have spent that time watching the Persian-language channels of Iran’s own state media, and what they have built in the absence of the man himself is the strangest thing I have followed: a leader who exists almost entirely as text.

The output is relentless. Messages “attributed to” Mojtaba Khamenei arrive for every occasion: Labor Day, Persian Language Day, the Hajj. Officials line up to swear fealty to a name. Teachers “pledged allegiance” to him; crowds in Tehran and Karaj chant “Labbaik Seyyed Mojtaba,” here I am at your service. A pro-regime cleric issued a fatwa redirecting the religious dues of his father’s followers to him. A poem published by Fars casts him as the seamless heir. Commanders report meeting him, while no photograph of any such meeting is ever released. The name does enormous work. The man does not appear.

Two stories, told in parallel

Read the state channels alone and you would think nothing had changed. The deputy for international affairs at the leader’s office declared him in “full health” and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)