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The CIA and Mossad are intensifying efforts to trace Mojtaba Khamenei, who became supreme leader after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on February 28, according to a report citing former intelligence officials and experts.
Mojtaba has not appeared publicly since taking office and was absent from his father’s funeral, although official wartime statements have been issued in his name. Unconfirmed assessments suggest he may be hiding in a deep underground facility and may have suffered facial injuries in the strike that killed his father. There is no independent confirmation of his location or health.
With Mojtaba believed to have stopped using electronic communications, investigators are focusing on human intelligence, particularly couriers carrying messages through several layers of intermediaries. Some intelligence figures have not ruled out the possibility that he is dead and that the Revolutionary Guards are using his name to preserve the regime’s wartime legitimacy.
Details
- Electronic silence: Mojtaba is believed to have avoided using a phone or computer for about five months to prevent detection.
- Possible locations: Assessments include tunnels beneath Tehran or a fortified military complex near Qom, but no public evidence confirms either location.
- Core questions: Mossad is reportedly prioritizing two issues: whether Mojtaba is alive and where he is hiding.
- Courier network: Messages may be carried on paper through several intermediaries who do not know the final sender or recipient.
- Restricted circle: Intelligence estimates suggest only two or three Revolutionary Guard members may know how to contact him directly.
- Recruiting sources: The search depends on placing or recruiting an agent near the supreme leader’s inner circle and monitoring officials who may discuss his location.
- Use of doubles: Former Mossad officials raised the possibility that lookalikes are being used to confuse surveillance, but the claim remains unverified.
- Presidential account: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he met Mojtaba for two and a half hours and found him well, a claim disputed by a former Mossad official.
- Proof of life: Public evidence is limited to official statements issued in Mojtaba’s name, with no authenticated video or audio recording released.
- Intelligence limits: A former US official said Israeli human intelligence inside Iran was stronger than Washington’s but still faced significant constraints.
Between the lines
The uncertainty extends beyond Mojtaba’s location to the extent of his authority. If the Revolutionary Guards are effectively directing military decisions, finding the supreme leader would not necessarily alter the course of the war or the structure of power.
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An authenticated recording or public appearance would offer the strongest evidence that Mojtaba is alive. Even if intelligence agencies locate him, Washington and Jerusalem would still face a political decision over whether acting against him would serve a strategic purpose or risk producing a more hardline successor.
