American and Israeli intelligence agencies have no evidence that Mojtaba Khamenei is alive. Intelligence officials admit that the situation defies traditional logic.
More than five months have passed since Mojtaba Khamenei assumed the position of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, but he remains completely invisible to the international community. Since then, no video messages or official audio recordings have been released to the public, raising serious questions among international experts.
Modern.az reports that, according to "The Times" newspaper, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel's "Mossad" intelligence service have joined forces in an unprecedented covert operation. The main goal of this large-scale mission is to find out the whereabouts of the Iranian leader and who is actually controlling the state apparatus. This issue has now become a priority for Western and Middle Eastern intelligence services.
The newspaper's sources claim that the tracking of possible secret hideouts of the new Supreme Leader is carried out almost around the clock. To accomplish this complex task, special services use the entire arsenal of modern tools: an extensive network of agents within Iran, advanced satellite monitoring technologies, and electronic intelligence systems.
However, the searches have been significantly complicated by Khamenei's complete abandonment of any electronic devices, including mobile phones and personal computers, thereby minimizing his digital footprint. According to one of the main working theories among Western analysts, he is likely hiding in a heavily guarded underground bunker, possibly near Qom, the holy city of Shiites, or another fortified military facility, fearing preemptive precision strikes.
The current situation is causing real confusion among high-ranking US and Israeli officials. Israeli government sources openly admit that intelligence agencies still have no conclusive evidence that the new leader is alive and actually controls the state apparatus.
One of the publication's American sources called the situation "unusual": on the one hand, Washington does not believe that the Iranian elite would undertake such a complex process as nominally transferring power to a deceased person, and on the other hand, there is still no direct evidence of his active leadership of the country.
This information vacuum has an extremely negative impact on the assessment of real geopolitical risks. Western intelligence services are still unaware of who is making the key strategic decisions in Tehran, whether it is the fate of Iran's nuclear program, threats to prevent shipping in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, or the coordination of numerous pro-Iranian militia groups in the Middle East.
At the same time, "The Times" sources emphasize that the large-scale hunt for the supreme leader by intelligence services does not automatically mean a decision to physically eliminate him. This stage is purely a deep intelligence operation aimed at mapping his secret connections, channels, and the true extent of his influence on the Iranian political system.
