Iran's Khamenei 'in relatively good health'

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, looked thinner than usual and sounded as if he had a cold, but seemed otherwise to be in good health when he appeared on television today.

TV footage of Khamenei, 67, who has the final word on all matters in Iran, broadcast last month suggested he had lost weight and gave rise to concerns about his health.

The pictures provoked wild speculation on foreign websites, but there was nothing solid in Tehran to back up the internet rumours. Khamenei’s office and the government have issued no report on his health.

Today, Khamenei addressed hundreds of citizens of Qom, a holy city 80 miles south of Tehran, who gathered outside his residence in the city centre.

Speaking from a first story balcony, Khamenei reiterated Iran would never back down on its enrichment of uranium, a process that produces the ingredients for nuclear reactors as well as atomic bombs.

Last month the UN Security Council imposed limited trade sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to cease enrichment.

“The Iranian nation undoubtedly won’t give up its (nuclear) rights,” Khamenei told the crowd in a hoarse voice. “The officials of the Islamic republic don’t have the right to give up the rights of the Iranian nation.”

An Iranian photographer said Khamenei coughed a few times during his speech, a part of which was broadcast on state television.

“He appeared to be healthy. He only coughed a few times,” photographer Saman Aghvami told The Associated Press.

A close-up photograph showed drops of perspiration on Khamenei’s forehead.

Khamenei also appeared to have lost weight since he was seen in public in October and November.

Khamenei, who has held the post of supreme leader since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, controls every major decision in Iran, either directly or through a network of hand-picked loyalists and institutions, including the Revolutionary Guards, the judiciary and intelligence services.