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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader underwent prostate surgery yesterday and was recovering at a government hospital in Tehran, state media said in a rare report on the state of health of the country’s top cleric. The 75-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters and has been Iran’s top leader since 1989, was reported to be in “good condition” and his doctors said he was resting after the surgery.
President Hassan Rouhani visited the supreme leader in hospital after the procedure and later released a statement saying that Khamenei’s condition is “very good and hence, the people should not be worried”.
Rouhani said he had offered to cancel his attendance at a regional summit in Tajikistan but that Khamenei had convinced him to proceed with the planned trip. Rouhani left later in the day on a five-day trip there and to Kazakhstan.
The official IRNA news agency described the operation as “routine” and said it was successful, without giving details on what had prompted it or the underlying medical condition.
Head of Khamenei’s medical team, Dr.Ali Reza Marandi, told state TV that the procedure took less than half an hour and was performed under local anesthesia. He said Khamenei will need three to four days of rest.
Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the head of Khamenei’s office, told IRNA that the supreme leader will leave hospital for home after five or six days.
Earlier in the day, state TV aired a brief footage of Khamenei before the surgery in which he asked people to pray for him.
Khamenei was a close ally of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the 1979 Islamic Revolution and was later Iran’s supreme leader until his death in 1989.
He served as Iran’s president for eight years before becoming the supreme leader in 1989 and has proved a powerful defender of the clerical rule established by his predecessor. — AP.
Online Reporter