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Mar 14, 2026

Israeli PM Says Iran’s Supreme Leader Must Stay Out of Sight

Tensions in the Middle East are escalating as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a blunt warning about Iran’s new leadership, claiming the country’s Supreme Leader cannot safely appear in public following Israel’s recent military actions.

Speaking on March 12, Netanyahu refused to reveal Israel’s next moves but made it clear that Iranian leaders should not expect protection.

“I will not grant life insurance to any Iranian leader,” Netanyahu said when asked whether Israel planned to respond to Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. “And I will not reveal what we are planning or what we will implement.”

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, the son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was chosen on March 8 to lead Iran during one of the most volatile moments in the region’s history. His rise to power came shortly after Israel announced that Ali Khamenei had been killed in an airstrike on February 28.

According to Netanyahu, the situation is now so dangerous that the new leader “cannot appear in public.”

So far, Mojtaba Khamenei has remained largely unseen. During the official ceremony confirming his leadership in Tehran, Iranian authorities displayed only a portrait rather than allowing him to appear in person. His first public message on March 12 was delivered as a written statement read on state television—without video or audio from the leader himself.

In that message, Khamenei vowed that Iran would continue tightening its blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a move aimed at increasing pressure on the United States and Israel and forcing them to “pay for the damage they have caused.”

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