Overview
- The search follows an airstrike that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, after which Mojtaba assumed supreme leadership but has not made verifiable public appearances.
- Multiple reports say U.S. and Israeli agencies have shifted from electronic surveillance to human intelligence because Mojtaba has left little or no digital trail for roughly five months.
- Analysts and former operatives point to possible hiding spots such as underground tunnel networks in Tehran or a fortified facility near Qom and warn the regime may use body doubles to confuse trackers.
- Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, have claimed personal contact with Mojtaba, but those accounts are disputed and none of the key claims about his condition or location is independently verified.
- The uncertainty complicates regional decision making by raising questions about who holds real power inside Iran, how the regime communicates, and what breakthroughs in HUMINT could change for U.S. and Israeli policy.