TEHRAN- For the first and only time, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, the current Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has agreed to a formal interview. The conversation, conducted in mid-2021, was not intended to discuss the Leader himself.

Its stated purpose was to honor Ayatollah Seyyed Javad Khamenei, the father of the martyred Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who fell on February 28 in U.S.-Israeli strikes. Yet in the course of speaking about his grandfather, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei offered rare and revealing glimpses into the relationship between the martyred Leader and his own father — a bond marked by deep affection, intellectual partnership, and personal sacrifice.

The interview, excerpts of which were published by KHAMENEI.IR, shows that the connection between the martyred Leader and his father went beyond the ordinary. According to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, it was not merely emotional but carried an element of spiritual admiration. The elder Ayatollah Khamenei had shown remarkable promise from a very young age. At twelve or thirteen, he was already teaching religious rulings to adults, using question-and-answer manuals in a time before modern religious treatises had become common. His father, recognizing his talent, encouraged him and sent him to deliver a lecture at a women's religious gathering — a task he handled with confidence.

Later, when the martyred Leader studied under his father's guidance, his quick grasp of advanced texts like Sharh al-Lumʿah prompted his father to remark that "Ali-Agha is a mujtahid." This was not a formal designation, the current Leader explained, but rather an expression of admiration for the young man's sharpness and potential.

Beyond the classroom, the martyred Leader was deeply attentive to his father's needs. He visited daily, reading to him and engaging in discussion. When the elder Ayatollah Khamenei walked to the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, his son would accompany him. If passersby offered greetings while the father was absorbed in prayer, the son would respond on his behalf.

One of the most significant revelations in the interview concerns the martyred Leader's decision to leave his advanced religious studies in Qom and return to Mashhad. In the early 1960s, the elder Ayatollah Khamenei's eyesight began to fail due to cataracts and glaucoma. At the time, the martyred Leader was excelling in Qom, attending classes taught by Grand Ayatollahs Borujerdi and Khomeini. His lecture notes were highly regarded, and some scholars predicted he would one day become a leading religious authority.

The martyred Leader hesitated, torn between his studies and his father's need for care. On a trip to Tehran, he confided in a friend, who told him: "If God wills, He will make your worldly and spiritual affairs succeed in Mashhad as well." The martyred Leader described feeling immediate clarity. He returned to Mashhad, and soon after, his career as a teacher and preacher flourished — a path that would ultimately lead to his leadership of the Revolution and his martyrdom at the hands of American and Israeli forces.

The interview also highlights the martyred Leader's detachment from material wealth — a quality his son traces to his parents. The martyred Leader's household remained remarkably modest. The same three-burner gas stove was in use for decades. The television was so outdated that it lacked the ports for a modern receiver. Plastic chairs served as furniture. The bed the martyred Leader slept on was the same one he used after surviving an earlier assassination attempt in 1981 — in use for over forty years.