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Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, would have to clear any final deal with the US through a secret courier network while remaining hidden as a “designated target”, counterterrorism experts said on Tuesday.
He claimed the unprecedented arrangement means Washington is negotiating a high-level agreement with an entirely invisible counterparty, with a memorandum potentially signed by a regime leader and a “designated target” who may never show his or her face publicly.
“Khamenei is a designated target, and every confirmed sighting is a coordination,” Dr. Omar Mohammed told Fox News Digital.
“The courier system used for messaging is not transitional. It is the operating system of their regime.
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In this photo obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks on a street in Tehran May 31, 2019. (Hamid Foroutan/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)
“Any agreement reached by the United States must be designed to have a permanently invisible counterpart whose implementation depends on its continued existence. This is not arms control as traditionally understood. This is a memorandum signed under US military pressure, with a regime whose leader cannot show his face.”
Mohammed’s comments came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in India why the deal was being delayed.
“It’s just a reaction,” Rubio said. “I mean, when you get down to some of these things, you have to hear the answers, and it takes a while for the Iranians to come back,” he explained.
“This is Secretary Rubio confirming courier latency on the record,” said Dr. Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative’s program on extremism at George Washington University. “Rubio is describing the structural feature of interacting with a supreme leader that no one can find.
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President Donald Trump monitors US military operations in Iran following the Israeli attack in Tehran on February 28, 2026. (white House)
“Mojtaba is in hiding, messages are being sent by courier, and responses are delayed by several days.
Mohammed claimed, “Rubio has just confirmed the symptoms, and the administration has been honest about the problem. The question is whether the framework can be put in place to avoid it.”
Khamenei has spent nearly three months in hiding as tensions with the United States escalated.
As soon as his father died in an attack on 28 February, he went underground, amid reports that he was seriously injured.
According to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he was killed in Operation Epic Fury – “wounded and possibly disfigured”. His wife and son died in the same attack.
“Officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government do not know where he is,” Mohammad said, meaning that every information they receive “is dated, and their responses come with significant delays.”
The comments come as Iran and the United States continue talks aimed at reaching an agreement to end the war that began on February 28.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced tough questions about the Trump administration pressuring India on trade, tariffs, visa and immigration reforms at a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday. (Julia Demri Nikhinson/AFP)
“If there’s going to be a deal, we’ve got to work on it. But, you know, it’s either going to be a good deal or no good deal,” Rubio said Tuesday.
A senior administration official said the US is prepared to ease sanctions if Iran makes major concessions on uranium enrichment. Frozen Iranian assets have also emerged as a major obstacle.
Iran said on Monday that despite progress toward a framework in talks, no deal with the United States was imminent.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said the talks focused on ending the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and the potential memorandum of understanding did not include specific details on the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
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“The real question for Washington is not how fast the framework can be signed,” Mohammed said.
“Enforcement also looks like this when the counterparty’s signature arrives via courier.”
