The CIA and Israel's Mossad are intensifying their search for Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since succeeding his father after the February 2026 airstrike.
Intelligence officials believe he was seriously injured in the strike, has avoided using phones or laptops for more than 150 days, and is hiding in a heavily protected underground shelter, possibly in Tehran or near Qom.
With electronic surveillance yielding few leads, the search has shifted from cyber intelligence to human intelligence.
Former Mossad officials say Mojtaba is believed to communicate through multiple layers of unwitting couriers carrying handwritten messages, making infiltration of his inner circle the only realistic way to confirm his location—or even whether he is still alive.
Some intelligence figures suspect the IRGC may be concealing his death, while others warn the regime could be using body doubles to obscure his movements.
Source: The Times