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Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is holed up in an undisclosed location with almost no access to the outside world, reachable only through a labyrinth of couriers, CBS News reported, citing U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.
The communications breakdown within the Iranian government is described as a central reason why details of a potential deal have been slow to emerge and why proposed U.S. terms can go unanswered for long periods.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was wounded in U.S. and Israeli strikes during Operation Epic Fury, has not been officially seen or heard in public since before the war started.
He is the son of the late Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran from 1989 until he was killed in the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes. Mojtaba was subsequently selected as the supreme leader by Iran's 88-member Assembly of Experts under the constitutional succession procedure.
U.S. officials told CBS News that by design, even officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government do not know where the supreme leader is located and have no way to contact him directly.
All messages pass through a network of couriers specifically created to obscure his whereabouts. Iranian officials authorized to work with the Trump administration have been having difficulty communicating inside their own government, and this is described as a central reason why deal details have been slow to emerge.
"Every piece of information he receives is dated and there's a lot of latency to his responses," one U.S. official said.
"This is why you see people saying things like 'The supreme leader has agreed to the framework' or 'We're waiting to hear back on the final deal points,'" the official added.
Most senior Iranian leaders are reportedly spending weeks inside fortified bunkers and avoiding speaking to each other unless absolutely necessary.
"U.S. and Israeli intelligence obtained from inside the Iranian government has enabled the location and elimination of much of Iran's senior leadership during the war," an official said.
"Watching them try to figure out how to talk to each other is almost like watching a sitcom. They are completely exasperated," one official said.
Despite the communications constraints, the supreme leader has communicated in broad terms to his subordinates, giving direction on which issues they can negotiate on and which should not be discussed, the officials said.
A senior administration official told CBS News that Khamenei had agreed to the contours of the current draft agreement.
Trump posted on Truth Social that he anticipated final word within the next few days, a more measured timeline than the Sunday announcement his own team had been signaling hours earlier.
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