16 February 2015, 16:15 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was admitted to hospital in a serious condition in Tehran on Thursday, the Jerusalem Post said, citing unofficial reports.
The newspaper alleged that the 75-year-old's prostate cancer has "spread to the rest of the body."
Khamenei underwent prostate surgery last September. Iranian state media described the operation as routine and successful.
In 2010, The Guardian reported that US authorities had obtained information that Khamenei had been diagnosed with a terminal form of leukemia.
Khamenei is both the head of state and the top religious authority in Iran. The cleric is a key figure in all political processes in the country, including the ongoing talks on the country's controversial nuclear program, which the West suspects to be a cover-up for the development of nuclear weapons.
Following the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, Khamenei served as the president for eight years, from 1981. He succeeded the late Ruhollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader in 1989.
