The continued absence of Mojtaba Khamenei from public view, and the failure to publish any message or appropriate statement from him in recent weeks, has led to questions and mockery on social media. Users, pointing out that the Islamic Republic leader’s connection to society since his election has effectively been limited to the publication of texts, now have also taken the stoppage of those messages as a source of jokes.

One user wrote on Instagram: “Remember the time when Mojtaba would issue a statement? Now he doesn’t even do that. Has his subscription run out?”

This message refers to the debates and jokes that emerged in the first weeks of Mojtaba Khamenei’s leadership regarding the use of artificial intelligence to rebuild his image and voice, or to produce content related to him.

Another user also linked Mojtaba Khamenei’s silence to Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of Parliament. He wrote to Qalibaf: “This silence from Mojtaba is becoming very obvious,” and then asked him, instead of Khamenei, to “release a few statements.”

The jab refers to reports on social media about the metadata of files released from accounts attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei.