A Father’s Recovery: How Khamenei’s Young Daughter Helped Heal His Wounded Arm

According to Saed News, in a rarely shared anecdote, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recounted how, after surviving an assassination attempt that left one of his arms temporarily paralyzed, it was not just medical advice but also the gentle bond with his daughter that helped restore partial movement to the limb.

“In the beginning, my arm was completely paralyzed—swollen and immobile,” Khamenei explained, referencing the aftermath of the 1981 bombing attack in Tehran that targeted him while delivering a speech. “Eventually, I noticed slight motion near the shoulder, and the doctor advised me to let my arms swing naturally while walking.”

Progress came slowly. But during that period, the Supreme Leader said, God granted him a daughter who became emotionally very close to him. “She often came to visit me at the presidential office,” he recalled. “I would hold her in my arms—at first only with my good arm. Then, little by little, I realized I could hold her with my injured one, too.”

His physician noticed and encouraged this natural form of therapy. “He said: ‘This child is healing your hand. When you hold her out of affection, you endure the weight, and that strengthens the arm.’ And that’s exactly what happened,” Khamenei said.

Though he notes that the hand remains impaired from the wrist down—“it looks like a hand, but functionally, it barely performs”—he credits the physical and emotional connection with his daughter as playing a meaningful role in its recovery.

This intimate story sheds light on the personal struggles often hidden behind the formality of leadership, and reveals a softer dimension of Iran’s most powerful political figure: a father quietly healed by the weight of love.