US intelligence reveals that Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is effectively holed up in an undisclosed location with little access to the outside world, CBS News reported on Sunday.
According to American officials with knowledge of the matter who were cited in the report, the isolation is so severe that he can only be reached through a convoluted labyrinth of couriers.
This extreme isolation has paralyzed the regime's bureaucracy. Iranian officials authorized to work with the Trump administration have been having a difficult time communicating inside of their own government system - a breakdown that sources identify as a central reason why the details of a potential deal with Iran and past agreements have been slow to emerge.
When Washington transmits proposed diplomatic details, the logistical nightmare of reaching the top despot results in a bottleneck. Two officials noted to CBS News there can be a long delay before the US receives a response.
When pressed for confirmation, a White House spokesperson declined to comment on intelligence on the Supreme Leader's whereabouts or Iranian communication methods.
Despite the communication blackout, some progress has reportedly been made. A senior administration official stated Sunday the Supreme Leader had agreed to the contours of the current draft agreement. Simultaneously, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he anticipated final word in the next few days.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was injured in US and Israeli strikes in Operation Epic Fury, is taking extreme measures to avoid the strikes similar to the ones that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran from 1989 until Feb. 28. Indicating the severity of his hiding, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been officially seen or heard in public since before the start of the war.
The hiding reflects a deep fear of Allied intelligence penetration. US and Israeli intelligence obtained from inside the Iranian government has made it possible to locate and eliminate much of the Iranian senior leadership during the war, one of the officials told CBS News.
Consequently, the remaining echelons of the regime are living like hunted animals. At this point, most Iranian leaders don't see daylight, spending weeks inside highly fortified bunkers and avoiding speaking to each other unless absolutely necessary, the sources said.
"Watching them try to figure out how to talk to each other is almost like watching a sitcom. They are completely exasperated," one official remarked.
The most cautious measures are being taken by the Supreme Leader. By design, even officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government don't know where he is and have no way to contact him directly. Instead, messages are slowly funneled through a network of couriers created to obscure the supreme leader's location.
"This is why you see people saying things like, 'The Supreme Leader has agreed to the framework,' or 'We're waiting to hear back on the final deal points.' Every piece of information he receives is dated and there's a lot of latency to his responses," an official explained.