Negotiations between the United States and Iran are reportedly facing an unusual obstacle: Iran’s supreme leader is allegedly operating entirely from hiding, forcing communications to move through secret courier channels.
According to Fox News, counterterrorism experts told the outlet that any final agreement with the United States would ultimately need approval from Mojtaba Khamenei, who they claim has remained concealed for months amid escalating tensions with Washington.
“Khamenei is a designated target, and every confirmed sighting is a coordinate,” Dr. Omar Mohammed told the outlet.
“The courier system used for messaging is not transitional. It is the operating system of his rule.”
Mohammed argued that the arrangement creates an unprecedented diplomatic situation in which the U.S. is effectively negotiating with a leader who cannot appear publicly.
“Any deal the United States signs will have to be designed for a permanently invisible counterparty whose enforcement depends on his continued survival,” he said.
“That is not arms control as it has been conventionally understood. It is a memorandum signed under American military pressure, with a regime whose leader cannot show his face.”
The comments came after Marco Rubio addressed delays in negotiations while speaking to reporters in India.
“It’s just the response,” Rubio said. “I mean, when you get down on some of these things, you’ve got to hear back, and it takes the Iranians — takes them a little while longer to get back.”
Mohammed said Rubio’s remarks appeared to confirm the communication difficulties.
“That is Secretary Rubio confirming the courier latency on the record,” Mohammed claimed.
“Rubio is describing a structural feature of negotiating with a supreme leader no one can locate.”
According to the report, Khamenei allegedly went underground after a Feb. 28 strike killed his father during the conflict between Iran and the United States.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said Khamenei had been “wounded and likely disfigured” in Operation Epic Fury.
Mohammed claimed even senior Iranian officials do not know Khamenei’s location.
“Officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government do not know where he is,” he said, adding that responses from Iran now come with “significant latency.”
Despite the communication hurdles, talks between Washington and Tehran continue as both sides work toward a potential agreement tied to Iran’s nuclear program and the broader regional conflict.
Rubio acknowledged negotiations remain uncertain.
“If there’s going to be a deal, we’re going to have to work through that. But this is, you know, it’s either going to be a good deal, or there isn’t going to be one,” he said.
Iranian officials also cautioned Monday that no agreement was imminent, though discussions toward a framework were continuing.