U.S. intelligence reveals that Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is effectively in hiding at an undisclosed location, with limited access to the outside world and communicating only through a network of couriers, according to U.S. officials.
The difficulty in reaching the supreme leader has slowed negotiations with the Trump administration, causing significant delays in responses to proposed deal terms. A senior administration official stated Sunday that Khamenei has agreed to the framework of the current draft, with President Trump expecting final word soon.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was injured in U.S. and Israeli strikes during Operation Epic Fury, has not been seen or heard in public since before the war began. U.S. and Israeli intelligence have successfully located and eliminated much of the Iranian senior leadership during the conflict.
Most Iranian leaders now spend weeks in fortified bunkers, avoiding direct contact. Messages to the supreme leader are passed through a labyrinth of couriers to obscure his location, leading to what one official described as 'a lot of latency' in his responses. Khamenei has communicated broad negotiating directives to his subordinates.