Report: Iran’s President Held a Secret Meeting With Mojtaba Khamenei

A secret meeting took place between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the newspaper "Iran International" reported today (Tuesday). According to the report, the meeting was held under extreme secrecy, in a manner completely different from the description the president later gave the public.

According to sources cited in the report, Pezeshkian was not received at the supreme leader’s official residence, as is customary for meetings of this kind. Instead, after arriving in Tehran, he was driven to a secret location that had not been disclosed to him in advance. Upon arrival, he was transferred from his vehicle into a commercial vehicle with tinted windows, where Khamenei was apparently waiting.

According to the report, the meeting itself was conducted in an unusual manner. The inside of the vehicle was so dark that the two men could not see one another. The supreme leader’s security personnel even prevented them from shaking hands, and the entire conversation took place by voice alone. After the meeting, which lasted only a few minutes, ended, Pezeshkian asked whether the person he had spoken with was indeed the supreme leader, after being unable to identify him during the conversation.

The report stands in complete contrast to what Pezeshkian said publicly in mid-May. At the time, during a meeting with representatives of professional unions, the president said that he had spent about two and a half hours with Khamenei "in a warm atmosphere." But according to "Iran International" sources, the actual meeting was much shorter, lasting only a few minutes, and at its conclusion the president was asked to leave the location.

According to those same sources, the meeting itself was not a given. It was claimed that Khamenei’s office agreed to it only after Pezeshkian repeatedly requested a meeting with the supreme leader and even threatened to resign from his position if it was not made possible. Only following that pressure, it was claimed, was the meeting approved — and even then, in an unusual format that did not include a visit to the leader’s official residence.

The unusual secrecy surrounding the meeting joins additional reports published in Iran in recent days. Two days ago, it was reported that since the start of Operation "Roaring Lion," Iranian authorities have not released any sign of life from the supreme leader, not even an audio recording. The absence of any public appearance or message has intensified assessments among intelligence officials that he may have been killed in the operation’s opening strike.

Despite this, Iran continues to deny claims that Khamenei was eliminated, but has so far also presented no public proof that he is alive. The Iranian channel "Al-Mashhari" reported that the decision not to release audio recordings or current documentation is not accidental, but stems from concern that foreign intelligence services could locate him by analyzing audio files.