▲ Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel's Mossad are going all out to locate Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, according to the British daily The Times.
Mojtaba was appointed supreme leader on March 8, after his father, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, was killed in a bombing on the first day of the war (February 28).
However, for the past five months, he has not made any public appearances or even released his voice recording, citing security reasons.
He did not even attend the funeral of his father, Ali Khamenei.
The Times noted that tracking the whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, which has been shrouded in strict secrecy, is currently a top priority for U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies.
The reason these intelligence agencies, which boast world-class intelligence capabilities, are struggling even five months after his appointment is because he is maintaining "complete silence."
He has reportedly not made any phone calls or turned on a laptop computer during this time.
The Times estimated, "Having suffered severe facial injuries in the February 28 bombing while with his father, he is hiding deep in an underground bunker and cannot step out into the sunlight for fear of being captured by U.S. spy satellites."
Although Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has previously claimed to have met with Mojtaba Khamenei, it remains unconfirmed whether this is true.
In the case of Ali Khamenei, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and Israel's Unit 8200 demonstrated their intelligence prowess by hacking Tehran traffic CCTVs to track his movements, but the situation this time around appears far from easy.
As cyber tracking has failed to yield results, these intelligence agencies are reportedly relying more heavily on human intelligence (HUMINT) rather than wiretapping and surveillance technologies.
Current tracking efforts are focused on whether Mojtaba is still alive and, if so, his likely hideouts, which include underground tunnels in Tehran and military bunkers near Qom, a religious city in central Iran.
Rami Igra, a former head of division at Mossad, told the newspaper, "The challenge facing Israel is the same as when we tried to find hostages in the Gaza Strip," adding, "Israeli intelligence agencies did not rely on HUMINT to track hostages, and even bugged every single toilet, but ultimately failed."
He continued, "Even if Mojtaba does not use a phone, if he is alive, he will use communication methods such as small scraps of paper, with multiple tiers of couriers delivering them."
Just as one of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's couriers was tracked by the CIA, Mossad is also identifying and tracking those who exchange messages with Mojtaba Khamenei, according to the report.
However, Igra pointed out, "It is very difficult because internal vetting of Mojtaba's aides is extremely strict, and probably only two or three people within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps know how to contact him."
Another obstacle making the tracking difficult is the use of "body doubles."
Avner Avraham, a former Mossad lieutenant colonel, said, "Even the personnel preparing meals for Mojtaba do not know if the food they prepare is for the real Mojtaba," adding, "They may believe they served the supreme leader, but it is highly likely it was a body double."
In response to criticisms questioning why he cannot at least release a voice recording if not his actual appearance, he answered, "There is a risk of exposure because information such as the type of recorder used or the recording location can be extracted from an audio file."
The Times noted that even if Mojtaba Khamenei's location is identified, deciding what action to take remains a dilemma.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official said, "Unless there is very strong conviction that a white-knight leader dedicated to a democratic future for Iran will emerge, would eliminating the current leader actually yield any practical benefit?"
(Photo provided by the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Yonhap News)
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