Where is Mojtaba Khamenei? Why has he disappeared?

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. On Wednesday, 19 Azar 1404 (10 December 2025), the strike and gathering of more than 5,000 workers of the contract companies of South Pars in Asaluyeh was the largest workers' gathering in recent years. Their demands include issues such as wages and the job classification plan, and, above all, settling their employment status and getting rid of these intermediary contracting companies, among others. In this gathering they had come up with a new initiative

0:56 that is very noteworthy. Besides the workers themselves, many of their families, their wives and children, the mouths they feed, so to speak, had joined the strikers and demonstrators. This initiative has precedents in the history of civil resistance. A very famous example is Poland. When the Solidarity union managed to spread the workers' strikes against the communist government to dozens of factories and faced the threat of a crackdown, the workers staged sit-ins in the factories, and their wives and children joined them. This move

1:56 first of all doubled or tripled their numbers, or even more. Second, it made repression very difficult, and in practice the government could do nothing. And with the families joining, a collective effort also took shape. Beautiful scenes emerged: families brought food, sat in at the sit-ins, people worked together. In short, it made joining the strikes a model for other factories and other groups. Another initiative from other countries

2:49 that can be cited is in Chile. When the strikes got underway through the efforts of the labor union, with the support of human rights organizations, the Church and others, at certain points the workers, their wives and their families picked up empty pots, as a sign that "our tables are empty, our food containers are empty, our pots are empty." This initiative also spread quickly across Chile. When they began beating the pots with ladles and spoons, the sound of their emptiness filled the air, together with

3:45 the slogans they chanted and set to rhythm, and everyone quickly imitated it: workers and non-workers, office employees, shopkeepers and so on. Suddenly an unwritten agreement took hold across Chile that every night, at a set hour, everyone would beat empty pots from the windows of their homes, from balconies, in the streets and so on. For 10 minutes, 15 minutes, sometimes half an hour, the sound filled entire cities. In any case, this move by the workers,

4:37 which was welcomed by many unions and labor activists in other parts of the country, who supported them with their own statements, can be seen as a first innovative step, with the families joining in, something that will likely become a model for others as well. Today in Tehran, too, in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis), employees of the Welfare Organization from all over the country were present, protesting their low wages. Workers of the intermediary contracting companies of oil and gas were present. Likewise, workers and

5:27 technicians of the intermediary contract companies in the electricity sector had come from many parts of the country, and a large gathering of wage earners from welfare, oil and the electricity industry had expanded this gathering. In any case, using initiatives such as the presence of families, and thereby making repression harder and increasing the numbers, as well as using the symbol of empty pots and showing them to those taking videos and photos, along with slogans like "Our tables are empty, enough with the promises," when combined with these symbols, in conditions where poverty and high prices are among the main daily problems

6:25 of the people, along with chronic and runaway inflation, can probably unleash a great force across the country. Meanwhile, the foreign minister of Lebanon, in response to Mr. Araghchi's invitation to come to Tehran, in effect rejected his invitation, saying, "We are ready to talk, but not in Tehran; rather in a neutral country." This response means that Iran, or the Islamic Republic and the regime ruling Iran, is not neutral in Lebanon's affairs. This comes as the Lebanese foreign minister had met with Israel's representative for Lebanese affairs, and probably Mr. Araghchi's urgent invitation

7:21 was meant to convey Tehran's displeasure with that meeting to the Lebanese foreign minister, and that is why he did not come. It is said that Lebanon has set out on a path of cooperating with Israel to disarm Hezbollah, and perhaps, at the end of the road, joining the Abraham Accords. In any case, this shows the fall of yet another pillar of Khamenei's Axis of Resistance and the failure of his policies. In Yemen, too, the so-called Transitional Council, whose members long ago were Maoist groups but later, like many

8:18 communists, changed course and became supporters of democracy, and who have been present and powerful for years in southern Yemen and the area of the strategic city, have, with the support of the United Arab Emirates, expanded their area of influence and taken control of the city of Aden. And the Saudis' puppet government in the south, which in practice had no base among the people, preferred fleeing to staying and has left. This development, in which South Yemen, with the strategic and very important city of Aden, is now under the control of an essentially pro-Western government that also enjoys the support of an Arab country,

9:13 will probably make it possible in Yemen for some other tribes in the north to join this government in the south as well. If that happens, the Houthis in the north, who control Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, will face serious problems, and in fact another of Khamenei's investments in the region, where he has spent the Iranian people's money, will face a crisis. But with Khamenei fading, his absence from the scene, and his taking refuge in multiple holes, or as the young people say, hiding 50 meters underground, a serious question has arisen about the succession crisis: now that he is

10:15 fading and stepping aside, becoming ineffective even while alive, let alone after his death, whether natural or by being killed, where is Mojtaba Khamenei? Mojtaba Khamenei, Khamenei's second son, for whom Khamenei perhaps began laying the groundwork to become Leader some 15 years ago, and for whose rise to power he killed the likes of Hashemi and Raisi, or removed Sadegh Larijani; at one time the IRGC Intelligence Organization, headed by a bloodthirsty man like Taeb, was entirely at his disposal. Dozens of rent-seekers like this Ansari, the managing director of Ayandeh Bank, and dozens of people like him surrounded him. For some time now he has been absent from public view and

11:12 from the scene. It is said that the Vali-ye Amr Corps, which is responsible for his protection, moves Mojtaba, like his father, from hole to hole among more than six or seven hideouts. They guard him intensely out of fear of Israel and the possibility that Israel might assassinate him. But his absence, like his father's, has become a source of questions. That is, those who were unhappy from the start about this bloodthirsty son coming to take his father's place have now become more outspoken. For example, parts of the Ministry of Intelligence, even the IRGC Intelligence itself, or IRGC commanders who had previously complained about Mojtaba's interference in the IRGC and so on,

12:11 are these days strongly arguing in government circles that with Khamenei's death there is no possibility of Mojtaba or anyone else becoming successor, and that one must think of a country without velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurist). In any case, besides this issue, the mafia gangs of wealth and power, who know that the seat of Leader, if it remains in place, will be the most important seat in the country, have also sprung into action. Those who could not reach Mojtaba, or were and are unhappy with him, are busy creating other successors for the seat of Leader. In any case, Mojtaba Khamenei, who one could say has gone

13:06 missing and is not present, has, like his father, gradually melted away from the political scene and from the top of power. Hoping for the victory of Iran and Iranians.