Six months after suffering severe, disfiguring injuries in the opening airstrikes of the war, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to appear publicly in any photograph, video or audio recording, fueling growing questions inside the country about his health and whether he is actually exercising control over the Islamic Republic, Reuters reports.

Khamenei was elevated to the position of supreme leader following the death of his father in the opening phase of the war. His continued disappearance from public view comes as Tehran confronts consequential decisions over the conflict, along with an economy already weakened before the fighting and now under enormous additional pressure.

Iranian officials and other senior figures insist that Khamenei remains firmly in command. They say he is deliberately staying out of sight because of security concerns while recovering from injuries that disfigured his face, and that he has handed much of the government’s routine management to a small group of senior officials.

Yet the absence of any visual or audible proof of Khamenei’s condition has increasingly raised doubts among Iranians. Since assuming the position approximately a week after the war began, he has released no photograph, video or recording of his voice — an extraordinary situation in a political system built around the supreme leader’s ultimate authority.

“The question is no longer whether Mojtaba is alive, but whether Iran still has a functioning supreme leader,” said Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute in Washington. Khamenei has communicated with the Iranian public only through several written statements subsequently read by broadcasters. His absence was particularly conspicuous last month, when he failed to appear during an elaborate week of funeral ceremonies for his father.

Senior Iranian officials and other insiders maintain that the secrecy is necessary because of concerns that Khamenei could be assassinated. They say he regularly confers with the country’s most senior officials, reviews major reports and personally makes the ultimate decisions on matters of national importance.

President Masoud Pezeshkian offered one public indication of such activity on August 10, saying he had participated in a seven-hour meeting with Khamenei.

Questions about the supreme leader’s absence, however, are beginning to surface even among some of the Islamic Republic’s staunchest loyalists.

“We need to hear our leader’s voice, or see any sign that he is there on top and leading the country to give us more confidence,” said a member of the Basij volunteer militia in Qom, the religious center that occupies a central place in Iran’s theocratic establishment.

The Basij member, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue, said he nevertheless believed Khamenei remained responsible for major decisions. Still, he argued that the failure to release even a single photograph was hurting morale and damaging Iran’s interests.

Among reform-minded Iranians and opponents of the regime, skepticism about the official explanation is considerably stronger. “How do we know that Mojtaba has not been killed?” said Shahrokh, a pro-reform businessman in Tehran who also requested anonymity.

“It is not logical that there is ‌not a single sign proving he is alive, let alone evidence that he is involved in decision-making,” he added.

After six months of warfare against its most formidable adversaries, Iran has sustained extensive damage but its governing structure remains intact. The regime’s military still possesses capabilities that could threaten energy shipments and target American allies in the Gulf.

The Islamic Republic has also demonstrated its ability to survive the deaths of its previous supreme leader and other senior commanders without experiencing an institutional collapse. The political and military command structure has remained operational and loyal to the ideology of the regime.

Iran’s economic position, however, has become increasingly precarious. The financial burden of the war, combined with a blockade that has choked off oil exports for months, has sent the rial plunging and raised fears of another wave of widespread unrest. Iranian authorities violently suppressed mass demonstrations in January, killing thousands of protesters.

Against that backdrop, regime leaders have reorganized their priorities around protecting the survival of the Islamic Republic, rebuilding Iran’s deterrent capabilities and preventing the worsening economic crisis from threatening the stability of the government.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, already one of the country’s dominant institutions before the conflict, expanded its influence after the war began. According to sources familiar with the leadership structure, the Guards remain deeply involved in strategic decision-making within a reorganized system centered around the Supreme National Security Council.

The leadership circle includes senior Revolutionary Guard commanders alongside major political figures, including Pezeshkian and parliament speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf.

Multiple senior sources inside Iran told Reuters that Khamenei is indeed meeting with members of that group, participating fully in discussions and retaining final authority over all major decisions.

One senior Iranian official said Khamenei’s face-to-face interactions have been restricted to a very small circle. According to the official, authorities have deliberately withheld information about his whereabouts and condition because they fear that releasing details could enable the United States to locate and target him.

A person described as close to Khamenei’s inner circle said his physical condition has improved considerably and characterized the supreme leader as mentally sharp and actively engaged in government decisions.

“Despite all the pressures, services to the people have not stopped. Our ‌foreign policy line is unified and our decisions are coherent. All of this shows the ‌supreme leader is in charge,” a second official said.

Khamenei was never known for seeking the spotlight even before becoming supreme leader. As a senior aide to his father, he generally operated behind the scenes and avoided prominent public appearances. According to senior sources, he suffered facial disfigurement during the opening hours of February 28, when Israeli and American airstrikes launched the war and killed his father.

His continued invisibility has become more difficult to explain, however, now that he occupies the Islamic Republic’s highest position during what is arguably Iran’s gravest national crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The supreme leader is not merely another senior official in Iran’s system, but the figure entrusted with ultimate authority over the country’s most consequential decisions.

“A genuine deal with Washington requires Mojtaba’s unmistakable approval and so does any decision to sustain a long and costly conflict with the United States,” said Vatanka.

“His prolonged absence has created a dangerous situation in which rival factions can all claim to know what ‌the leader really wants,” he added.