New American intelligence findings indicate that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has gone into deep hiding at a secret location and is almost entirely cut off from direct communication with the outside world, according to a CBS News report released Sunday.

US officials familiar with the intelligence said the secrecy surrounding Khamenei’s whereabouts is so extreme that messages to him are being relayed through an elaborate chain of couriers rather than through conventional communication channels.

The breakdown has reportedly crippled the Iranian regime’s internal operations. Officials tasked with handling discussions involving the Trump administration are struggling to communicate even among themselves, creating major delays in negotiations and slowing progress on both current and previous agreements with Washington.

Sources told CBS News that whenever the United States sends diplomatic proposals or revisions connected to a possible deal, the complicated process of delivering the information to Iran’s top ruler creates severe delays. Two American officials said responses from Tehran can take an unusually long time because of the bottleneck.

A White House spokesperson declined to address questions regarding intelligence connected to Khamenei’s location or the regime’s communication methods.

Even amid the chaos, officials say some headway has been made. A senior administration official said Sunday that the Supreme Leader had approved the broad outlines of the latest draft agreement. At the same time, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he expects a final decision within days.

Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded during joint American and Israeli strikes carried out as part of Operation Epic Fury, has adopted extraordinary security precautions following attacks similar to those that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran from 1989 until Feb. 28. The extent of the secrecy surrounding him is evident in the fact that he has neither appeared publicly nor been heard from since before the war began.

American officials believe the paranoia gripping the regime stems from repeated intelligence penetrations by the US and Israel. According to one official cited by CBS News, intelligence gathered from sources inside Iran’s own government enabled the targeting and elimination of much of the country’s senior leadership during the conflict.

As a result, senior Iranian officials are reportedly living in near-total isolation. Sources said many of the regime’s remaining leaders rarely emerge into public view, spending extended periods inside heavily protected bunkers and limiting contact with one another unless absolutely necessary.

“Watching them try to figure out how to talk to each other is almost like watching a sitcom. They are completely exasperated,” one official remarked.

Officials said the strictest security measures are centered around the Supreme Leader himself. Even top-ranking members of the Iranian government reportedly do not know his exact location and have no direct means of reaching him. Instead, information is passed through a carefully designed courier network intended to conceal where he is hiding.

“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.’ Every piece of information he receives is dated and there’s a lot of latency to his responses,” an official explained.