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Iran’s “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reportedly a no-show for potential negotiations with the United States in Turkey last week, and then remained in hiding as the U.S. military pounded Iranian nuclear sites this weekend.
President Donald Trump was reportedly working with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to coordinate high-level talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Istanbul last week.
Trump told Erdoğan he could deploy Vice President JD Vance and White House envoy Steve Witkoff – and Trump offered to come to Turkey himself if it could mean meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to negotiate a diplomatic resolution to the Israel-Iran war and a nuclear deal, Axios reported, citing three U.S. officials and a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Trump also received “signals” from Iranian back channels hours before his call with Erdoğan that they wanted to talk, one White House official told Axios.
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Iranian worshippers hold up their hands as signs of unity with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during an anti-Israeli rally to condemn Israel’s attacks on Iran, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Erdoğan and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reportedly communicated Trump’s offer to Pezeshkian and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pezeshkian and Araghchi then sought to contact Khamenei to get his sign-off but were not able to reach him for hours. Sources told Axios the Iranians then told Turkish officials they could not get Khamenei to approve the meeting. The Turkish side then informed the U.S. that the meeting was off the table.
Iranian worshippers shout anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans with a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran on June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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According to the New York Times, Khamenei is sheltering in a bunker and has suspended all electronic communications with his commanders. He is relaying orders only through a trusted aide to protect his location amid assassination concerns.
Trump announced in a Saturday night address from the White House that the U.S. military had “carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan.” Days earlier, he indicated that the U.S. knows where to find Khamenei.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote earlier last week. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while gathering with others during a rally in Tehran on June 14, 2025. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
The Iranian leader, who is active on social media and often posts multiple times a day on X, has been silent on the platform since before the U.S. strikes.
According to Lisa Daftari, an Iran expert and editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, Iran would not be making a good-faith effort at diplomacy even if Khamenei were getting involved.
“Diplomacy was never going to work with a regime like Iran’s – a regime whose entire ideology is built on ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’,” Daftari told Fox News Digital. “The mullahs were never serious about compromise or peace.”
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Daftari said that “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.”
According to Daftari, “Trump made the right decision to act with limited, precise military strikes” to send “a clear message: If the red line was Iran getting nuclear weapons, then force – targeted and decisive – was the only responsible conclusion.”