(July 3, 2026)
His last public appearance was on February 8, mere weeks before he was reportedly missing after the deaths of Khamenei and other Revolutionary Guards officials during Operation Epic Fury on February 28.
Archiv: deflection / fogging / secrecy / cover / cover-up / covert operations
Iran‘s Revolutionary Guard shadow leader resurfaced at a funeral after months
(July 4, 2026)
The fate of General Vahidi, who disappeared before the February 28 operation that killed Ayatollah Khamenei and many senior Revolutionary Guard officials, including former commander Mohammad Pakpour, had long been a subject of debate. Vahidi, attending Khamenei‘s funeral ceremony held ahead of the 40-day national mourning period starting this weekend, was captured by Iranian state media cameras mourning at the side of the coffin.
Iran‘s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Remains Absent as Funeral Draws Global Attention, Fueling Succession Questions
(July 7, 2026)
His absence was particularly notable during the main funeral procession through Tehran on Monday, where three of Ali Khamenei‘s sons-Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud-were shown praying beside the family‘s coffins. Mojtaba did not appear alongside them, nor has he delivered a public speech or recorded message since assuming the country‘s highest office in March.
According to reports, Iranian security officials have discouraged Mojtaba from attending the remaining funeral ceremonies because they believe he could become a target for another Israeli attack.
Officials have reportedly rejected his request to attend the final burial in Mashhad, citing continuing security threats.
Who Is Running Iran? Mojtaba Khameneiâs Public Absence Sparks ‚Command Crisis‘ Rumours
(March 22, 2026)
Despite the expectations of CIA and Mossad for a traditional New Yearâs speech, Mojtaba Khamenei remained out of sight, issuing only a text-based statement on Telegram for Nowruz.
Sources cited by The Jerusalem Post indicate that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) may currently hold the reins of the country, with one source suggesting the Guard is controlling Mojtaba rather than following his lead.
Oct. 7 political inquiry bill passes first reading as opposition boycotts, Netanyahu skips vote
Coalition-backed bill would allow continuity into next Knesset and create a six-member committee to investigate the massacre, war and events that preceded them, in place of a state commission of inquiry
Israeli authorities refuse to return massive trove of Oct 7 video. What are they hiding?
(May 31, 2026)
On October 7, the Israeli government issued video Hannibal Directive orders which led Apache helicopter pilots and tank gunners to take aim at Israelâs own citizens in the Gaza envelope, supposedly to prevent them from being taken hostage. Israeli Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram personally ordered a tank crew to shell a home in Kibbutz Beâeri, knowing it was filled with Israeli citizens who had been taken captive by Hamas fighters seeking to negotiate a way out of the standoff. A dozen Israelis were killed in the strike, leaving behind âa house full of corpses,â according to the lone Israeli survivor. One Israeli tank gunner from an all-female unit similarly revealed that she was ordered to shell Israeli homes without knowing who was inside. An Israeli police investigation subsequently revealed that Israeli helicopters shelled the Nova Electronic Music festival on October 7.
Given Israelâs track record of targeting its own citizens on October 7 and misleading the public about it, the Israeli state might be holding on to as much video as possible to ensure no further evidence of the Israeli army massacring its own citizens is made public.
Exclusive: Israel sent troops to Azerbaijan during Iran war as part of secret network across region, sources say
The secret deployment to Azerbaijan, reported by CNN for the first time, was one of several military positions Israel maintained across the Middle East that gave its military unprecedented reach, highlighting the role Iranâs neighbors played â some with permission, some likely without â in facilitating operations against Tehran and becoming entangled in the conflict.
The locations in Azerbaijan were among numerous covert military sites and bases in multiple countries, the sources told CNN, including in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Somaliland. The forces, initially planned as potential rescue teams in the event of an emergency, expanded in scope to become military and intelligence gathering positions.
The Agony Around the Democratsâ Mysterious, Ridiculous Autopsy
(May 22, 2026)
Rarely has a document been at once as mysterious and anticlimactic as the Democratic National Committeeâs autopsy of what went wrong in the 2024 election, which, after much drama and angst, was finally published on Thursday.
The committeeâs chair, Ken Martin, promised a full audit of party operations when he was running for his seat, and again when he won it. Last July, officials said it would be out in the fall. Fall came and went, and in December, Martin said it wouldnât be released at all. By hiding it, Martin made the report an object of suspicion and fascination.
Mystery PACs roil Democratic primaries
Yet Lead Left PAC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Galindoâs behalf ahead of Tuesdayâs primary runoff. Democrats are accusing Republicans of orchestrating the effort.
âYou have an openly bigoted person who has no business in elected office getting boosted by a Republican PAC,â Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said. âSo the Republican leadership here, of course, is going to go to great lengths to hide that.â
The district is a Trump +10, and Galindo would certainly be a weaker opponent for the GOP in November than Garcia.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, the GOP super PAC aligned with House Republican leaders, has declined to say if itâs behind Lead Left PAC.
Democrat rebuked by party for antisemitic remarks will lose Texas House runoff, CNN projects
Galindo caught Democrats off guard when she placed first in the March 3 primary, despite spending just a few thousand dollars on her campaign. After a mysterious super PAC spent nearly $1 million boosting her bid, Democrats were forced to grapple with the possibility that she could win the nomination â an outcome the party worried could jeopardize its chances in the district and tie them to rhetoric theyâve denounced.
Cuba Girds for Invasion as Trump Launches RaĂșl Castro Indictment Amid Punishing Blockade
And reports indicate that the number of U.S. military surveillance flights taking place near the island have skyrocketed in recent weeks, raising fears of an impending operation.
(…)
Trumpâs recent threats to âtakeâ Cuba, however, coupled with the recent loss of energy supplies from Venezuela and the Castro indictment, may mark the most serious threat to the countryâs independence since its 1959 revolution.
Iraq officials confirm second alleged Israeli base in desert
– U.S. reportedly knew of at least one Israeli base since June 2025 but likely withheld information from Iraq.
– Iraq was compelled to shut down its radar to protect U.S. aircraft during both the 12-day war and the 2026 conflict.
– The concealment of Israeli operations intensified scrutiny over Iraqâs sovereignty and coalition transparency.
– Iraqi political figures called for full transparency and stronger oversight mechanisms to prevent foreign intrusion.
The secret Israeli bases scandal roiling Iraqi politics
In a deeply embarrassing development for Baghdad, Israel established two forward-operating bases (FOBs) for supporting air campaigns against Iran on federal Iraqi territory in a flagrant violation of Iraqâs already fragile sovereignty.
The Wall Street Journal reported the first baseâs existence, in the barren Nukhaib desert southwest of the Shia shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala, on 9 May. The New York Times further revealed Sunday that Israel also set up a second base somewhere else in the countryâs western desert regions that it operated for over a year and even used during the June 2025 12-day war.
Israel‘s secret base in Iraq: what happened in the western desert and why Baghdad couldn‘t respond
(May 16, 2026)
The physical record is not seriously in dispute, and it begins with a shepherd. On March 4, a local herder in the remote desert southwest of Najaf and Karbala reported unusual helicopter activity to military authorities in Najaf. Iraqi forces were dispatched. They came under fire from the air. One soldier was killed, and two were wounded. Baghdad submitted a protest note to the Global Coalition without naming who had fired, and the incident was quietly classified âuntil the Wall Street Journal named the party responsible on May 9.
In Iraqi Desert, Two Israeli Outposts Were Kept Secret for Months
The presence of an Israeli outpost in Iraq was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal. Iraqi officials told The Times there was another undisclosed second base also in Iraqâs western desert.
The base Mr. al-Shammari came across predated the current war between the United States, Israel and Iran, the regional security officials said, and was used during the 12-day war against Tehran in June 2025.
Israeli forces began preparing to build the makeshift base as far back as late 2024, one of the regional officials said â identifying remote sites from which to operate in future conflicts.
Iraqi farmer killed to hide evidence of two Israeli bases in country: Report
The presence of two secret Israeli bases in Iraq may have led to the death of a shepherd who discovered them, according to an investigation by The New York Times (NYT).
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Israel set up a covert outpost in Iraqâs western desert during the conflict with Iran. The site was reportedly used to support air operations and housed special forces units.
Israel built and defended a secret Iran war base in Iraq
An Iraqi government spokesman declined to comment further on the incident or whether it knew of the Israeli base.
Israel Built and Defended a Secret Iran War Base in Iraq
Israel set up a clandestine military outpost in the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign against Iran and launched airstrikes against Iraqi troops who almost discovered it early in the war, people familiar with the matter including U.S. officials said.
No 10 bid for SECOND paedo-linked Labour ally to get ambassador role
He was later pushed on who had ordered him to look into getting Doyle a position, and who had ordered him not to tell the foreign secretary (which at the time was David Lammy).
Robbins said: âI don‘t know what the origin of the suggestion was, and I don‘t know who exactly was behind it or how serious it was.
âIt was serious enough for the No 10 private office to ring up the head of the diplomatic service and ask for a forward look of available head of mission jobs, and that‘s the point at which I thought that I needed to lay down some markers.â
Olly Robbins: I was asked to find job for Starmer aide and not tell David Lammy
Testifying to MPs at parliamentâs foreign affairs select committee on Tuesday, Olly Robbins said he had several conversations with No 10 about finding a role for Matthew Doyle, who was later suspended as a Labour peer after it emerged he had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children.
Robbins said he had been asked not to mention the idea to David Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time.
Robbins described the conversations as part of more general pressure from people at the top of the government to place senior political figures in senior diplomatic posts.
Olly Robbins says he faced âconstant pressureâ to get Mandelson in post
Asked who in No 10 had applied pressure, he said it was mainly the prime ministerâs private office, which is staffed by civil servants. But he added: âI think that the private office would only have been [putting on] this pressure themselves if they were under pressure.â
After the latest Mandelson revelations, Starmer needs to get a good lawyer. Wasnât he supposed to be one?
During the opposition years, his defenders countered that a stolid technocrat was exactly what the country needed. They sold the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service as the polar opposite of Boris Johnson, who was driven from Downing Street in part by Starmerâs own forensic questioning. If only Starmer had lived up to the billing of his detractors, reluctantly conceded by his allies, he wouldnât be in the hole he finds himself this weekend.
Instead, he now has to rely on a defence that is lawyerly in the worst sense of that word. To have knowingly misled parliament is, in political terms, a capital crime. So the PM has to proceed on two tracks, one for âknowinglyâ the other for âmisledâ.
Starmer sacks top Foreign Office official after Mandelson vetting revelations
The BBC understands Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper lost confidence in Sir Olly Robbins and was effectively sacked after a Guardian investigation revealed Mandelson had not been security cleared.
The PM is facing calls to resign amid claims he misled MPs when he told them „full due process“ had been followed.
Senior minister Darren Jones said Sir Keir had not been told of the vetting recommendation until Tuesday this week, had not misled MPs and would not be resigning.
Epstein-Fall, neue hochrangige RĂŒcktritte in England. Starmer unter Druck: âEr sollte zurĂŒcktreten.â
(April 16, 2026)
âEs ist unverzeihlich, dass kein Minister, nicht einmal Downing Street, informiert wurdeâ, kommentierte Premierminister Keir Starmer. Doch Starmer selbst geriet ins Visier der Opposition, die seinen RĂŒcktritt fordert. Der Chef von Downing Street scheint jedoch nicht zurĂŒcktreten zu wollen. âEr wird nicht zurĂŒcktretenâ, versicherte Starmers engster Vertrauter, Darren Jones.