Is Mojtaba Khamenei's disappearance behind growing IRGC control in Iran? Report offers inside view

With Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei staying in the shadows as the war between Iran and US-Israel forces crosses one month and reaches a crucial juncture between escalation and peace, President Masoud Pezeshkian has been pushed into a "complete political deadlock".

This has led to a new power struggle between the country's top brass and its military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the latter has blocked presidential appointments and certain decisions, while erecting a security perimeter around the core of power, effectively reducing the leaders' executive control.

The IRGC has also exerted its growing influence on the appointment of top leaders to replace the ones killed in US-Israel airstrikes, as per an Iran International report.

The list of slain Iranian leaders include Mojtaba's father and former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, intelligence chief Ali Larijani, and the IRGC's former naval chief Alireza Tangsiri, among many others.

Notably, intelligence ministers typically get approval from the Supreme Leader to nominate intelligence ministers.

However, with Mojtaba staying unseen since the death of Ali Khamenei—which has sparked questions around his health—the IRGC is now reportedly controlling the flow of information between Pezeshkian and the Supreme Leader via a "military council" of senior military officers.

The questions around Mojtaba's health persist despite a Russian envoy recently claiming that the Supreme Leader was still in Iran, but had not made a public appearance for "for understandable reasons", a Reuters report said.

Messages from the Supreme Leader have only been read out on live TV, with the most recent one thanking Iraq for its support with the war in the Gulf.

In the message, he thanked Iraq’s top Shia authority, Ali Al Sistani, and the Iraqi people for what he described as their “clear stance against aggression towards Iran”, as per a report from the semi-official news agency ISNA.

More internal trouble underway?

Iran's governance crisis reportedly doesn't end with the gap between Pezeshkian and the Supreme Leader, as reports claim an internal conflict is also brewing within Mojtaba's inner circle.

According to the reports, alleged airstrike survivor Ali Asghar Hejazi, a powerful security official in Khamenei's inner circle, faces a possible exit due to the internal tensions.

Hejazi had been a vocal critic of Mojtaba's succession, warning that elevating him to Supreme Leader would allegedly lead to power being handed over to the IRGC.