Information about the widely reported meeting between Masoud Pezeshkian and Mojtaba Khamenei, which the Iranian president himself had revealed several months earlier, was provided by the opposition outlet Iran International, further deepening the mystery surrounding the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.
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According to the report, Pezeshkian was taken to a secret location in Tehran and was allowed to spend only a few minutes in a car with dark-tinted windows alongside a man who was introduced as Mojtaba Khamenei.
According to the same information, Pezeshkian was unable to see the man sitting beside him and later reportedly wondered whether the voice he had heard actually belonged to the Supreme Leader.
This account of Pezeshkian’s only meeting—as reported—with the Islamic Republic’s third supreme leader differs significantly from what the president himself has stated publicly.
In mid-May, Pezeshkian told representatives of professional associations that he had met with the new leader for two and a half hours “in a cordial atmosphere.”
However, according to sources cited by Iran International, the meeting lasted only a few minutes, after which the president was asked to leave.
The meeting after the resignation threat
According to the report, the meeting took place only after Pezeshkian repeatedly made requests for it and even threatened to resign.
The same sources reported that the Supreme Leader’s office eventually agreed to the meeting but informed the president that, unlike normal practice, he would not be received at his official residence.
Instead, the presidential guards took him to an undisclosed location in Tehran. There, he was removed from his official vehicle and taken to the back seat of an ordinary car with dark-tinted windows, where—according to reports—Mojtaba Khamenei was already waiting for him.
The location was so dark that the two men could not see each other, and Khamenei’s security personnel did not even allow them to shake hands. Thus, all Pezeshkian could do was listen to the Supreme Leader’s voice.
Was it really Khamenei?
The incident reportedly angered Pezeshkian, who found it particularly humiliating.
Presidential sources said that the president later asked whether the man sitting beside him was the Supreme Leader, since he had never seen his face and had only heard his voice in the darkness.
It is unclear whether this question reflected genuine doubt or was an indication of his anger over the way he had been treated.
According to the same sources, Pezeshkian has since requested a second meeting, this time at the Supreme Leader’s residence, but his request was rejected.
The mystery surrounding the Pezeshkian–Khamenei meeting: They were in a dark car, listening but unable to see each other
The “invisible” leader
Nearly five months after the Assembly of Experts elected Mojtaba Khamenei as his father’s successor, no audio or video of him has been released.
The issue, according to Iran International, has also concerned pro-government media in Iran. On Sunday, the website of the Hamshahri newspaper published a video claiming that foreign intelligence services could locate the new leader’s hideout by analyzing every recording of him, using acoustic energy, the frequency of the electrical grid, and ambient sounds.
The same video also said that intelligence services could analyze the timbre of his voice to assess his health or even his stress level, which, according to the publication, has increased rather than reduced speculation about his condition.
Contradictory assessments
Information about Mojtaba Khamenei remains contradictory. Around three weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump estimated that there was a 90% chance Khamenei had been killed, while the Israeli prime minister recently said that he was alive.
Statements by Iranian officials are also contradictory. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview in July that he had not seen Mojtaba Khamenei during this entire period and that only a limited number of people had met with him.
A day later, Pezeshkian claimed in a speech that meetings with the Supreme Leader had increased.
