American and Israeli intelligence agencies are trying to establish whether Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive and determine where he is hiding after he disappeared from public view in February, according to a report in The Times.

The search has become increasingly difficult because Mojtaba is believed to have stopped using phones and other electronic communications that could expose his location. With cyber-tracking proving less effective, Mossad is relying more heavily on its network of agents inside Iran and focusing on two questions: Mojtaba’s condition and his whereabouts.

Intelligence officials believe he could be hiding in one of Tehran’s underground tunnel systems or in a military bunker near Qom, approximately 90 miles south of the capital. Investigators are seeking proof that he is alive and confirmation of the location where he is being sheltered.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed that he spent two-and-a-half hours with the injured supreme leader and said he was in stable condition. However, former Mossad official Haim Igra rejected the claim, saying: “The Iranian president never saw him.”

The search is further complicated by the reported use of body doubles. Avner Avraham, a former lieutenant colonel in Mossad, said Mojtaba moves between different locations and that even those assigned to deliver his food may not know whether they are serving the real leader or a decoy.

Public pressure inside Iran has also reportedly grown for Mojtaba to appear and prove that he remains alive. The regime has released an official image of him, but questions surrounding his status and location have persisted.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)