Iranian President Meets Secretive Supreme Leader in Darkened Vehicle

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reportedly held a clandestine meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in May 2026 inside a commercial vehicle with tinted windows in Tehran. According to reports from Iran International, the encounter took place in near-total darkness, preventing the two men from seeing each other and prohibiting a handshake. While Pezeshkian told state media the meeting was direct and lasted two and a half hours, other reports suggest it lasted only a few minutes and left the president questioning if the person beside him was actually the Supreme Leader.

The meeting followed repeated demands for an audience by Pezeshkian, who reportedly threatened to resign after being sidelined on foreign policy and national security decisions. This internal friction occurs as Mojtaba Khamenei has remained absent from public view since succeeding his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike on February 28, 2026. Israeli media reports indicate the Supreme Leader has shifted strategic decision-making authority to Ahmad Vahidi, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

While Pezeshkian has publicly defended the Supreme Leader, he admitted that communication with him is currently very difficult. U.S. President Donald Trump mocked the situation, claiming the Iranian regime is disorganized and suggesting that Mojtaba Khamenei is 90% gone.