Iran’s New Supreme Leader Hides from Israel as Tehran Buries Khamenei

Iran's New Supreme Leader Is Hiding | VFI News Midweek Update

Three of Khamenei’s Sons Join Top Leaders at Tehran Funeral, but Not His Successor Mojtaba

US Agrees to Halt Talks With Iran for a Week as Funeral for Khamenei Begins

IDF Warns Hamas Building Up Its Strength with Iranian Financial Support

Former Israeli Ambassador to US Calls MoU a ‘Massive Surrender to Iran’

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Iran's new Supreme Leader hasn't been seen in public since Israel wounded him — and Tehran just buried his father with hundreds of thousands watching. Here's what's really happening.

Iran is negotiating a permanent end to the war and control of the Strait of Hormuz — but its supreme leader is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Hamas is reportedly seizing hundreds of Iranian-funded aid trucks daily to rearm. Pray for Israel's protection and for wisdom for its leaders in this critical hour. 🙏 Subscribe to Vision for Israel for daily news and prayer from the region.

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Iran’s top officials and the brothers of the country’s new supreme leader emerged into public view on Sunday, July 5, to attend funeral prayers for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, even as calls grew from the crowd for the killing of US President Donald Trump. Their appearance before hundreds of thousands in Tehran would have been unthinkable during the war, which opened on February 28, 2026, with Israeli and American airstrikes that killed the 86-year-old Khamenei along with family members and other officials. Israel had tracked and targeted regime figures who dared to surface publicly during the fighting.

Conspicuously absent was Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who is believed to be in hiding after being wounded in the strike that killed his father, his face disfigured and one or both legs badly injured. Israel has warned that it is prepared to kill him as well, as he now leads a theocracy negotiating with Washington over a permanent end to the war and over Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani led the prayers, with Khamenei’s sons Masoud, Meysam, and Mostafa appearing alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Quds Force chief Esmail Qaani.

Posters and graffiti at the Grand Mosalla called for the killing of Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a poet leading the crowd drew chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Authorities planned to parade the caskets through Tehran and other cities before burying Khamenei in Mashhad, with the mourning set to run through Thursday, July 9. For now, talks with the United States on a permanent end to the war remain on hold until the funeral concludes.

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have brought low those who plotted the destruction of Israel, and we ask that You continue to expose and dismantle every scheme of the Iranian regime against Your people and against the nations. We pray for the protection of all whom the enemy has threatened, and we ask that You frustrate every call for violence and revenge. Soften the hearts of the Iranian people, that many would turn from this darkness and come to know You. In Yeshua’s Name we pray.

Denuclearization talks between the United States and Iran were placed on hold for a week beginning Friday, July 3, as Tehran opened dayslong funeral ceremonies for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening Israeli and American airstrikes of the February war. Qatari and Pakistani mediators signaled on Thursday, July 2, that the two sides would reconvene “at the earliest possible time” once the mourning ends. The caskets of Khamenei and his family were carried into Tehran’s Grand Mosalla on the morning of Friday, July 3.

Even during the pause, Iran pressed its leverage. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf announced that the Islamic Republic had reached an arrangement with Oman over traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, tied to Article V of the memorandum of understanding signed the previous month by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Under the terms, Iran agreed to allow commercial ships safe passage without charge for 60 days following the signing.

Tehran paired diplomacy with a threat. Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned the United States and Israel to “avoid any miscalculation” and to weigh the “harsh retaliation” Iran’s forces would deliver to any aggression. Funeral processions were set to run through Thursday, July 9, ending with Khamenei’s burial in Mashhad, as temporary airspace restrictions were imposed over Tehran, Mashhad, and other cities.

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” – Psalm 20:7

Israeli defense officials warned during a security discussion that Iran is financing part of the goods flowing into the Gaza Strip, and that Hamas is seizing control of hundreds of Iranian-funded aid trucks every day. The warning surfaced on Thursday, July 2, and immediately drew alarm from activists who have worked throughout the war to stop the flow of supplies to the terror group. The concern is that the diverted aid is fueling Hamas’s efforts to rearm and rebuild.

The Tzav 9 movement, which has campaigned to block aid trucks from entering Gaza, called for an immediate and complete halt to their entry. The group charged that the seized supplies allow Hamas to “continue arming itself while preparing at full strength for the next October 7.” It described the shipments as “trucks of death” and part of a “final solution” that the Iranian regime is planning against Israel.

Tzav 9 warned that allowing hundreds of trucks a day to reach “those who kidnapped and murdered babies” could bring another assault on the communities around Gaza closer. The movement appealed directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling this “a moment of truth, just before disaster strikes.” Its message to the government was blunt: stop the Hamas trucks now.

Dear Lord, we pray that You would expose and halt every effort to rearm Hamas and strengthen those who seek Israel’s harm. Grant wisdom and courage to Israel’s leaders and defense officials to act decisively to protect the communities surrounding Gaza. We ask that You guard the families of the south and never allow the horrors of the past to be repeated. Be their shield and their refuge, in Yeshua’s Name.

Danny Ayalon, a former deputy foreign minister and Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, branded the current US-Iran memorandum of understanding a “massive surrender” to Tehran during a radio interview on Thursday, July 2. He argued that the Islamic Republic now dictates the terms of its dealings with Washington. In his assessment, the arrangement reflects American submissiveness toward a regime that Israel fought openly only months ago.

“What is happening today is massive surrender by the US to Iran; the Iranians are setting the tone, the US is releasing funds to Iran, and the Americans are not responding to provocations on Iranian territory,” Ayalon said. He warned that Tehran is exploiting the opening to the fullest. In his telling, the regime had pushed hard to detach the Strait of Hormuz issue from the nuclear file — and succeeded.

Once Iran separated those two questions, Ayalon explained, the split handed the regime a measure of quiet on both fronts. He cautioned that the deal leaves the United States absorbing provocations without response, even as Iran consolidates its gains. His warning was a call to treat the moment as a strategic danger rather than a settled peace.

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” – Psalm 118:8

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Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar forcefully condemned Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Thursday, July 2, after Fidan unleashed an anti-Israel tirade in a television interview, branding the Jewish state a burden the world “can no longer bear.” Sa’ar called the remarks “textbook incitement to genocide.” His rebuke drew a hard line against a NATO member whose officials have steadily escalated their rhetoric against Israel.

In the interview, Fidan claimed that Israel had become “a problem for all of humanity” and urged other nations to impose sanctions on the Jewish state. He went further, asserting that “these people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear,” and hinting that Turkey would not shrink from confrontation. “We have no problem with confrontation,” he said. “If it comes to that, it is not an issue for us.”

Sa’ar answered that dehumanizing the Jewish people as an “unbearable burden” is “the classic, horrific language of history’s worst eliminationist regimes.” He insisted that the civilized world and Turkey’s NATO allies “must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for the erasure of Israel.” Israel’s top diplomat left no doubt that such threats would be met head-on rather than ignored.

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” – Isaiah 54:17

Jewish organizations across Canada report that a sharp rise in antisemitism since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks has prompted some community members to explore relocation, with groups running exploratory trips to Panama, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and toward aliyah to Israel. B’nai Brith Canada documented 6,800 antisemitic incidents in 2025, the highest figure since it began issuing annual reports in 1982. Prime Minister Mark Carney noted that more than two-thirds of religion-motivated hate crimes in the country last year targeted Jews, who make up roughly one percent of the population.

Canadian authorities have begun to respond. A federal law taking effect in July 2026 makes it a criminal offense to intimidate or obstruct people seeking to access synagogues, schools, and community centers. After three visibly Jewish men were shot at with an imitation firearm outside a Toronto synagogue in May 2026, police made an arrest, with a senior officer calling the repeated targeting of the community “unacceptable.” Carney also launched a ministerial advisory council to assess antisemitism and coordinate a whole-of-government response.

Community leaders are pressing hardest for the laws already on the books to be enforced. Rivka Campbell of Toronto’s Beth Tikvah Synagogue urged officials to arrest offenders regardless of the expected outcome, to “send a message that we don’t tolerate hate in any form.” Others called on elected leaders to close the gap between legislation and enforcement so that Jewish Canadians can once again live openly and proudly.

Father, we lift up the Jewish community of Canada and all who feel the sting of rising hatred. Strengthen them with courage to live openly and proudly in their faith, and surround them with Your protection. We pray that the authorities would enforce justice without fear or favor, so that hatred finds no foothold. Comfort every fearful heart and let Your peace stand guard over them, in Yeshua’s Name.

When two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and nearby La Guaira on Wednesday, June 24, volunteers from the country’s Jewish community sprang into action, throwing open synagogues and community centers to hundreds of frightened residents. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck seconds apart, killing more than 1,700 people and destroying hundreds of buildings. Within hours, the community’s institutions had become shelters.

Roberto Mishkin, president of the Union Israelita de Caracas, said hundreds streamed into the Hebraica Jewish Community Center and the main synagogue — many whose homes were damaged or destroyed, and others simply too frightened to sleep at home. Volunteers gathered food, water, and blankets, arranged cots and medication for the elderly, and even organized Shabbat services. “This tragedy has been very hard for the country, but we are united and in solidarity,” said Miguel Truzman of the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela.

Help poured in from the wider Jewish world and from Israel. A 17-member Israeli search-and-rescue delegation, sent by the Magen company alongside the nonprofits Ready for Rescue and SmartAID, joined local teams to locate survivors, while IsraAid, NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief, and the Joint Distribution Committee mobilized aid. For Mishkin, the priority was simple: making sure every family has somewhere to sleep, food to eat, and hope that they will rebuild together.

“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” – Galatians 6:10

Former hostages Sasha Troufanov and Sapir Cohen were married on Sunday evening, July 5, roughly 17 months after Troufanov’s release from captivity in Gaza. Both had been abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7, 2023, assault on Israel while visiting family. Cohen was freed during the November 2023 ceasefire, while Troufanov endured more than 400 days in captivity before his release in February 2025.

The couple had only recently moved in together when terrorists seized them. Troufanov’s mother and grandmother were also kidnapped and later released, while his father was murdered in the onslaught. At the wedding, Troufanov thanked the guests for sharing in their joy: “You’ve been with us every step of the way. Thank you so much. I love you.”

President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog joined the celebration and blessed the couple under the chuppah. “We prayed for your return, we were moved to tears when you came back home, and this evening we were privileged to rejoice together with you,” Herzog said, wishing them a home “filled with love, light, and joy.” Among the guests were several other freed hostages, including Rom Braslavski, who had been held alongside Troufanov in Gaza.

The suggestions, opinions, and scripture references made by VFI News writers and editors are based on the best information received.

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