SouthernWorldwide.com – Counterterrorism experts have stated that Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, would need to approve any final agreement with the U.S. via secret courier networks while remaining in hiding due to his status as a “designated target.”
They further claimed this unprecedented arrangement signifies that Washington is engaged in high-stakes negotiations with an entirely invisible counterpart. A potential memorandum could be signed by a regime leader who is also a marked target, unable to ever reveal his identity publicly.
“The courier system used for messaging is not transitional. It is the operating system of his rule.”
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“Any deal the United States signs will have to be designed for a permanently invisible counterparty whose enforcement depends on his continued survival. That is not arms control as it has been conventionally understood. It is a memorandum signed under American military pressure, with a regime whose leader cannot show his face.”
These remarks from Dr. Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative Program on Extremism at George Washington University, followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s explanation to reporters in India regarding the delays in the deal.
“It’s just the response,” Rubio stated. “I mean, when you get down on some of these things, you’ve got to hear back, and it takes the Iranians — takes them a little while longer to get back,” he elaborated.
“That is Secretary Rubio confirming the courier latency on the record,” Dr. Mohammed observed. “Rubio is describing a structural feature of negotiating with a supreme leader no one can locate.
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“Mojtaba is in hiding, messages are moving by courier, and responses are arriving days late.
“Rubio just confirmed the symptom, and the administration is being honest about the problem. The question is whether the framework can be designed to survive it,” Mohammed asserted.
Khamenei has reportedly been in hiding for nearly three months amidst escalating tensions with the U.S.
He is said to have gone underground following a strike on February 28 that killed his father. Reports at the time suggested he was gravely injured.
According to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he was struck in Operation Epic Fury and was “wounded and likely disfigured.” His wife and son were reportedly killed in the same strike.
“Officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government do not know where he is,” Mohammed stated, implying that all information he receives is “dated, and his responses come with significant latency.”
These comments emerge as Iran and the United States continue their talks aimed at reaching an agreement to end the war that commenced on February 28.
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“If there’s going to be a deal, we’re going to have to work through that. But this is, you know, it’s either going to be a good deal or there isn’t going to be one,” Rubio commented on Tuesday.
A senior administration official indicated that the U.S. is prepared to ease sanctions should Iran make substantial concessions on uranium enrichment. The issue of frozen Iranian assets has also emerged as a significant obstacle.
Iran stated on Monday that no agreement with the United States was imminent, despite reported progress toward a framework in the ongoing talks.
Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, reiterated that the focus of the discussions remained on ending the conflict on all fronts, including in Lebanon. He also mentioned that a potential memorandum of understanding did not include specific details on managing the Strait of Hormuz.
“The real question for Washington is not how fast the framework can be signed,” Mohammed added.
“It is also what enforcement looks like when the counterparty’s signature comes through a courier.”
