Iran negotiations slowed by supreme leader’s isolation: U.S. officials
U.S. officials say progress on U.S.-Iran negotiations is slowed because Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and notably his son Mojtaba Khamenei, are reportedly operating from an extremely isolated, hard-to-reach location.Officials reportedly can’t contact khamenei directly; instead,messages must pass through couriers,creating delays and outdated information,which lengthens the time the U.S. waits for responses after submitting proposals.
The report comes amid shifting expectations about a possible Iran peace agreement. While President Trump said the latest peace deal was largely negotiated, later comments suggested final approval could still take days. Republican senators publicly questioned the timing and substance of any deal, while Trump said any agreement woudl be “good and proper.” Oil prices fell as reports indicated a deal in principle to reopen the Strait of hormuz.
The article also claims that some senior officials spend weeks in bunkers and that U.S. and israeli intelligence has helped remove much of Iran’s top leadership during the war. It notes that Iranian officials have publicly discussed injuries suffered by the supreme leader in a Feb.28 strike, and that Khamenei has not been seen in public as before the war began.
United States officials said Sunday that negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have been slowed in part because Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is operating from an extremely isolated location that has made communication inside the Iranian government difficult.
Iran’s supreme leader “is effectively holed up in an undisclosed location with little access to the outside world and is only reached by a labyrinth of couriers,” according to CBS News, which spoke with U.S. officials.
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The officials said the difficulty in reaching Khamenei “means there can be a long delay before the U.S. receives a response” after it sends proposed details, and “every piece of information he receives is dated and there’s a lot of latency to his responses.”
The report came one day after President Donald Trump said the most recent peace agreement with Iran “has been largely negotiated,” triggering initial speculation that it would be finalized this weekend. A senior U.S. official later told reporters Sunday that final approval could take days, while Trump reiterated on Truth Social that it hasn’t been “fully negotiated yet.”
Many Republican Senators pushed back on the idea of a deal on Saturday, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). Trump countered such criticism Sunday by saying “If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one.”
Oil prices fell Sunday after American officials “agreed in principle to a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.” Trump also said the relationship with Iran “is becoming a much more professional and productive one.”
The report says some high-ranking officials have no way to contact Khamenei directly, and many now spend weeks inside their bunkers. U.S. and Israeli intelligence obtained from within Iran’s government has allowed the allied nations to eliminate much of Iran’s senior leadership throughout the war.
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Earlier this month, Iranian officials publicly detailed the supreme leader’s injuries suffered from the Feb. 28 strike that killed his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The supreme leader has not been seen in public since before the war started.
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