Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei underwent prostate surgery Sept. 8 in a government hospital in Tehran. The supreme leader’s website published pictures and video in a sort of live blog, covering the before and after of the operation, to head off speculation about his health and, indirectly, his possible successors.

Before the operation, Ayatollah Khamenei gave an interview in which he said, “Yes, I have an operation and I am on now my way to the hospital. Of course, there is no place for worry. It doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t pray. … It’s a very normal and ordinary operation.” He was standing during the short interview.

Immediately after the surgery, Khamenei’s website published a picture of him lying in the hospital bed with an oxygen mask. The image of the supreme leader without his turban is the first image many Iranians have seen of him in a hospital since the failed 1981 assassination attempt.

Khamenei’s website then published an interview with his doctor, Alireza Marandi, who said that Khamenei had had “a small prostate operation.” Dr. Marandi said that Khamenei had had a problem for some time, but the day “was an appropriate time” for the surgery. He said that Khamenei was awake for the entire procedure and had personally asked him to speak to the media about the surgery. The doctor added that Khamenei would remain in the hospital for three to five days and would need to rest for some weeks.