Imam Khamenei’s Prostate and Rectum under Surgery!
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website posted photographs of a hospital visit by President Hassan Rouhani, one of many dignitaries to see the ayatollah.
TEHRAN — Iran’s highest leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, underwent an operation on his prostate on Monday, according to state-run news media and a posting on his website. None specified whether the ayatollah, 75, has prostate cancer.
Rumors have circulated for more than 15 years that Ayatollah Khamenei has prostate cancer, with the leader at times disappearing from the public eye for weeks. But Monday was the first time that state news media widely announced that he was undergoing treatment related to his prostate, apparently to help quell more rumors and speculation.
In what his doctors described as a “routine operation,” Ayatollah Khamenei, one of the most influential clerics in the Muslim world, received local anesthetics, and he will convalesce in Baghiatallah Hospital here for three to five days. State television showed an interview in which he announced that he was about to undergo surgery.
“Of course, there is no need to worry about it,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “It does not mean that people should not pray. God willing, it should not be a matter of worry. It is an ordinary and normal operation.”
His website, Khamenei.ir, showed photographs of the leader, including one of him in his hospital bed as he was visited by President Hassan Rouhani.
The operation was a huge success, said the head of the medical team, Dr. Alireza Marandi, who is also a member of Iran’s Parliament.
“Normally, patients need to rest for about three, four or five days after this kind of a surgery,” Dr. Marandi said on state television. “Probably, he will need the same period of time to rest after the surgery.” He suggested that the ayatollah take it easy for a few weeks and “cancel some of his work temporarily.”
Two police cars were seen outside the hospital on Monday. Some parking spots were freed up for a caravan of dignitaries coming to see the leader.
Among Iran’s leaders, Ayatollah Khamenei is relatively young. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who was among the first to visit the leader, turned 80 just two weeks ago. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the leader of the 12-person Guardian Council, a powerful oversight body, is 87.
Mr. Rouhani, 65, initially had decided to cancel a state visit to Kazakhstan, but made the trip anyway upon the insistence of Ayatollah Khamenei, state news media said.
“Thank God, he is very well, and people should not be worried,” the president told state television. “I believe that along with prayer all must be thankful for his existence and, thank God, his health.”
It was impossible to know from the few details disclosed whether Ayatollah Khamenei’s prostate had been removed. But urological oncology experts outside Iran said the hospitalization and multiday convalescence suggested that doctors may have performed such a procedure.
“Presumably, if he’s having his prostate removed, he has early-stage disease, and it’s likely to be curable,” said Dr. Eric A. Klein, chairman of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and a staff member of the Taussig Cancer Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.
Ayatollah Khamenei started out as a dissident cleric under the rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and became a leading member of the small coterie of clerics that led the Islamic Revolution that ousted the shah and broke relations with the United States. His tenure has been shaped partly by a strong anti-American animosity.
Near the end of eight years as president, Ayatollah Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989 after the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died. He is appointed for life. Upon his death, the 86-member Assembly of Experts will decide on his successor.
Ayatollah Khamenei has the final say over the most important issues in Iran, including its current negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement with the United States and other world powers on its nuclear energy program.