A coordinated series of explosions targeting wireless electronic devices resulted in severe injuries to Mojtaba Amini, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, the NY Times reported on Tuesday.
The real question, of course, is not the ambassador’s health condition, but what was he doing peeping into the screen of a Hezbollah pager? Why was he on the list of Hezbollah terrorists who merited the use of this safe, low-tech instrument? And why didn’t supreme leader Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei get one?
Anyway, according to two anonymous members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps with knowledge of the incident, Amini lost one eye completely and suffered significant damage to the other when a pager he was carrying detonated. These sources, speaking unofficially due to lack of authorization, revealed that Amini’s condition is more critical than initially reported by Iranian authorities. Plans are underway to evacuate him to Tehran for medical treatment.
And now we go to the Islamic Republic for a string of lies:
At 9:05 AM Wednesday, Mojtaba Amini’s people tweeted (because he may never again see what’s on those tiny screens): “Thank you for the kindness of all dear compatriots. Alhamdulillah, Mr. Amani’s physical condition is good, and his recovery process is being followed up, and the rumors that are being spread about his serious physical and visual conditions are not true.”
با عرض تشکر از الطاف همه هموطنان گرامی
الحمدلله وضعیت جسمی آقای امانی خوب و روند بهبودی ایشان در حال پیگیری است و شایعاتی که در مورد شرایط وخیم بینایی و جسمی ایشان منتشر میشود عاری از صحت است.#لبنان #امانی— نرگس قدیریان narges ghadirian (@Nargesghadirian) September 18, 2024
The ambassador’s dedicated staff tweeted at 2:26 AM Wednesday: “Thank you very much for the love and prayers of my dear compatriots. The Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs was by our side with his very valuable contacts and efforts in difficult conditions after this tragic terrorist incident. Alhamdulillah, Mr. Amani’s treatment is going well. Hoping to destroy terrorist Israel as soon as possible.”
Well, that last part goes without saying.
Of course, there were so many tweets citing those pesky reports about the ambassador losing one if not both eyes “like everyone else.”
According to IRNA, “the spouse of Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon has said that his treatment is going well after he was injured in a nationwide Israeli terror attack in the Arab country. In a post on her social media account on Wednesday, she thanked Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the Iranian people for their prayers.”
On Wednesday morning, the Iranian Embassy in Beirut announced that Mojtaba Amani’s treatment process is going well and that the rumors about his physical condition and vision conditions are false.
Hospitals throughout Lebanon faced an overwhelming surge of patients, prompting the establishment of a field hospital in the southern city of Tyre to treat the injured. In the capital city of Beirut, the wailing of ambulance sirens persisted for over three hours following the initial assault.
I expect the ambassador received the best treatment, compared to the thousands who were seen clutching vital parts of their anatomy in emergency rooms all over Lebanon.
