Reports indicate that Iran’s “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, did not attend potential negotiation talks with the United States in Turkey last week. He also avoided public appearances while the U.S. military targeted Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend.
President Donald Trump was said to be coordinating with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to arrange high-level discussions between American and Iranian representatives in Istanbul.
According to Axios, citing three U.S. officials and another knowledgeable source, Trump expressed his willingness to deploy Vice President JD Vance and White House envoy Steve Witkoff. Furthermore, Trump was prepared to travel to Turkey himself if it provided an opportunity to meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The goal was to negotiate a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as address concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.
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.
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.”
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.”
