Amid the fresh wave of escalation and heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, a media report has claimed that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is not currently in the country, and a growing rift has emerged between hardline factions within the regime and the Iranian government.
Where is Mojtaba Khamenei?
According to Saudi Arabian news outlet Al-Hadath, citing an Israeli security source, Mojtaba Khamenei is not in Iran, and the messages issued in his name are not being prepared directly by him, but by Ahmad Vahidi, the power chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The report further claimed that deep political differences have arisen within Iran, between the hardliners and the government in Tehran, which could pose a major challenge to the IRGC’s command structure, and country’s complicated power-sharing system.
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Why Iran-US MoU triggered power struggle in Tehran?
Citing Israeli sources, the report also claimed that the Iran-US 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), though now essentially dead, intensified power struggle within different factions in Tehran, withe regime hardliners accusing the civilian government of sideling the country’s interests and the directives of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
The resentment was evident during the funeral of slain former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when stones were reportedly hurled at Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who played a key role in the ceasefire negotiations with the US.
According to reports, a group of protesters raised slogans against Araghchi, calling him a dealmaker and a traitor to the country.
How Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence has empowered top leadership?
Western media reports claim that in the absence of Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since his appointment to the top post, all major decisions are being taken by Iran’s former parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Foreign Minister Araghchi.
According to Iranian-American historian and political expert Arash Azizi, Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence has left the top leadership in Tehran in charge of affairs, sparking discontent among hardliners, who feel they are being isolated from power and decision making.
Azizi claimed that regime hardliners are accusing Ghalibaf and Pezeshkian of plotting to seize power, even as MPs like Mahmoud Nabavian and Kamran Ghazanfari have publicly accused the government of seeking to diminish the role of the Supreme Leader and Parliament and give more power to the National Security Council.
First published on: Jul 19, 2026 07:58 PM IST
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