Last week, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s “supreme leader,” allegedly did not show up for possible US-Iran discussions in Turkey. This weekend, he stayed hidden as the US military bombed Iranian nuclear installations.
Reportedly, last week in Istanbul, President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were coordinating high-level discussions between American and Iranian officials.
According to three U.S. officials and a source with first-hand knowledge of the situation, Axios reported that Trump informed Erdoğan that he could send Vice President JD Vance and White House envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in order to negotiate a nuclear deal and a diplomatic end to the Israel-Iran war. Trump also offered to travel to Turkey personally if this meant meeting with Pezeshkian.
An individual from the White House informed Axios that Trump had gotten “signals” from Iranian back channels indicating their want to speak hours before to his chat with Erdoğan.
Pezeshkian and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were allegedly informed of Trump’s offer by Erdoğan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. After that, Pezeshkian and Araghchi tried to get in touch with Khamenei to obtain his approval, but they were out of luck for hours. After failing to gain Khamenei’s approval for the meeting, Iranian authorities informed Turkish officials, according to Axios’s sources. The Turkish side then notified the US that the meeting was no longer being considered.
Khamenei has reportedly cut off all electronic connection with his subordinates and taken refuge in a bunker, as reported by the New York Times. In order to avoid assassination attempts, he is communicating commands only through a reliable assistant.
A Saturday night White House address by Trump said that American forces had “carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan.” Just a few days ago, he hinted that the United States knew exactly where Khamenei is hiding.
Trump stated earlier this week, “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.”. We will not eliminate him (murder!) just yet, even if he is a soft target and likely safe there. However, American soldiers and civilians should not be targeted by missiles. Time is running out for us. I really appreciate that you’re paying attention to this.
Even though he usually writes many times a day on X, the Iranian leader has been noticeably absent from the site since before the U.S. strikes.
Even with Khamenei’s intervention, Iran would not be attempting diplomacy in good faith, said Iran specialist and editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, Lisa Daftari.
Diplomacy would never have succeeded with Iran’s government, according to Daftari, who spoke to HeadlinesForever Digital. “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” are the foundational principles of Iran’s worldview. “The mullahs were never serious about compromise or peace.”
According to Daftari, “Trump explored every avenue, including back-channel diplomacy, but when the Supreme Leader went dark, it confirmed what we’ve always known: This is a duplicitous, murderous regime that isn’t interested in dialogue.”
Daftari asserts that “Trump made the right decision to act with limited, precise military strikes” in order to convey “a clear message: If the red line was Iran getting nuclear weapons, then force – targeted and decisive – was the only responsible conclusion.”