There is still mystery surrounding Mojtaba Khamenei: for the U.S. and Israel, he is said to be alive, but it is unclear who is really in charge in Tehran.

The United States and Israel have intelligence information indicating that Mojtaba Khamenei is still alive. This is reported by Axios, citing, for example, that Iranian officials have attempted to arrange in-person meetings with the new Supreme Leader of Iran, but were unsuccessful due to security reasons. At the same time, the national security team of American President Donald Trump is still working to assess who is actually in command in Tehran, as explained by a U.S. official. "We have no evidence that he is actually the one giving the orders," an Israeli official told Axios regarding Mojtaba Khamenei. "It is a situation that is nothing short of bizarre. We do not believe the Iranians would go to all this trouble to choose a dead man as Supreme Leader, but at the same time, we have no evidence that he is taking command," a U.S. official added to Axios.

On the occasion of Nowruz, a written message invoking unity was published on the Telegram channel of Mojtaba Khamenei, accompanied by several photos of the new Supreme Leader. A U.S. official stated that the CIA is trying to determine if the photos are recent and noted that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian released a video message for Nowruz, despite threats to his safety. "We expected to see Mojtaba in some form as well. He did not take the opportunity and the tradition," the U.S. official added, considering it "an important warning sign." Raz Zimmt, director of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, noted that there is no evidence that Mojtaba is not performing his duties, although the injuries sustained in the February 28 raid and security issues make it difficult to fully exercise his authority. "Given the current exceptional circumstances, one should not expect him to appear in public, and it is possible that his health conditions do not even allow him to publish a video to avoid revealing the severity of his state," Zimmt noted.