Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, would have to approve any final deal with the U.S. through secret courier networks while remaining in hiding as a «designated target,» counterterrorism experts said Tuesday.

The unprecedented arrangement, they claimed, means Washington is negotiating a high-stakes accord with an entirely invisible counterparty, with a potential memorandum signed by a regime leader and a «designated target» who can never publicly show his face.

«Khamenei is a designated target, and every confirmed sighting is a coordinate,» Dr. Omar Mohammed told Fox News Digital.

«The courier system used for messaging is not transitional. It is the operating system of his rule.

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER RUNS ‘STATE WITHIN A STATE’ THROUGH SECRET 4,000-PERSON NETWORK, REPORT SAYS

«Any deal the United States signs will have to be designed for a permanently invisible counterparty whose enforcement depends on his continued survival. That is not arms control as it has been conventionally understood. It is a memorandum signed under American military pressure, with a regime whose leader cannot show his face.»

Mohammed’s remarks came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained to reporters in India why the deal was suffering delays.

«It’s just the response,» Rubio said. «I mean, when you get down on some of these things, you’ve got to hear back, and it takes the Iranians — takes them a little while longer to get back,» he explained.

«That is Secretary Rubio confirming the courier latency on the record,» said Dr. Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative Program on Extremism at George Washington University. «Rubio is describing a structural feature of negotiating with a supreme leader no one can locate.

IRAN’S KHAMENEI STAYS AWAY FROM TALKS AS JD VANCE SAYS DYNAMIC MAKES DIPLOMACY ‘MUCH MORE COMPLICATED’

President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Feb. 28, 2026. (White House)

«Mojtaba is in hiding, messages are moving by courier, and responses are arriving days late.

«Rubio just confirmed the symptom, and the administration is being honest about the problem. The question is whether the framework can be designed to survive it,» Mohammed claimed.

Khamenei has spent nearly three months in hiding as tensions with the U.S. escalate.

He went underground as soon as a strike on Feb. 28 killed his father, amid reports that he was gravely injured.

He was struck in Operation Epic Fury — «wounded and likely disfigured,» according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. His wife and son were killed in the same strike.

«Officials at the highest levels of the Iranian government do not know where he is,» Mohammed said, meaning every piece of information he receives is «dated, and his responses come with significant latency.»

The remarks come as Iran and the United States continue talks aimed at reaching a deal to end the war that began Feb. 28.

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER MOJTABA KHAMENEI ‘MISFUNCTIONING,’ NOT CONTROLLING REGIME: SOURCES

Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced tough questions Sunday at a New Delhi, India, news conference about the Trump administration’s pressing India on trade, tariffs, visa and immigration reform. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AFP)

«If there’s going to be a deal, we’re going to have to work through that. But this is, you know, it’s either going to be a good deal or there isn’t going to be one,» Rubio said Tuesday.

A senior administration official said the U.S. is prepared to ease sanctions if Iran makes major concessions on uranium enrichment. Frozen Iranian assets have also emerged as a key hurdle.

Iran said Monday that no agreement with the United States was imminent, despite progress toward a framework in talks.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the focus of talks remained ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and that a possible memorandum of understanding did not include specific details on managing the Strait of Hormuz.

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«The real question for Washington is not how fast the framework can be signed,» Mohammed added.

«It is also what enforcement looks like when the counterparty’s signature comes through a courier.»

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner blasted Jeff Bezos for opposing higher taxes on billionaires, rejecting the Amazon founder’s argument that raising taxes on the wealthy would hurt economic growth amid a broader political fight over wealth inequality and taxation ahead of the 2026 elections.

During a Monday appearance on MS NOW alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Platner argued Bezos’ opposition to higher taxes reflected the interests of billionaires seeking to preserve their wealth, rather than a serious economic concern about the impact of higher tax rates.

«I think it’s abject nonsense,» Platner said Monday. «I think that’s what somebody says when they don’t want to see their taxes go up.»

PLATNER IN THE HOT SEAT AS MAINE VOTERS RIP HIS ‘HORRIBLE’ COMMENTS AMID REDDIT SCANDAL

Platner went on to argue that directing more tax revenue from the wealthy into public programs would improve the lives of working Americans and strengthen society overall.

«There is absolutely no question if we target the wealth where it has been hoarded and we pull it back into our system and put it into social programs like health care, child care and paying teachers what they are worth, we will absolutely improve the lives of working Americans and, quite frankly, improve our society as a whole,» Platner said.

He went on to accuse Bezos of promoting arguments designed to protect the wealthy from higher taxes.

«I think what he [Bezos] is pitching is propaganda,» Platner said. «It’s meant to protect himself and protect his crony friends. And we’re going to come after them for it.»

MAINE PROGRESSIVE SAYS HE WON’T BACK SCHUMER EVEN AFTER DEMOCRATS UNITE BEHIND COLLINS CHALLENGER

Platner was responding to comments Bezos made during a CNBC interview last week, where the Amazon founder argued that raising taxes on the ultrawealthy would not solve systemic income inequality. Instead, Bezos suggested eliminating federal income taxes for lower-income Americans while warning that politicians often oversimplify economic problems by targeting wealthy individuals.

«If people want me to pay more billions, right, then let’s have that debate, but don’t pretend you know that that’s going to solve the problem,» Bezos said. «You could double the taxes I pay and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens. I promise you.»

The world’s fourth-richest person also accused politicians of using an «age-old technique» of «picking a villain and pointing fingers,» arguing that government overspending — not insufficient tax revenue — is the root cause of the nation’s fiscal challenges.

MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE CITES COMBAT TRAUMA WHEN CONFRONTED ON ‘TERRIBLE’ POSTS ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has campaigned with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner as the Democrat pushes a progressive platform focused on taxing billionaires and lowering costs for working Americans. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

The exchange underscores a growing divide between progressive Democrats pushing for higher taxes on corporations and billionaires to fund social programs and reduce income inequality, and business leaders and conservatives who argue such policies would discourage investment, slow economic growth and fail to address underlying government spending issues.

Tax policy is expected to remain a central issue heading into the 2026 midterm elections as lawmakers continue to debate the future of Trump-era tax cuts, the national debt and proposals targeting high earners and large corporations.

Platner has leaned heavily on progressive economic policy in his Senate campaign, centering his platform on affordability issues such as housing, healthcare and wages.

He has also aligned himself closely with Sanders, whose political brand has long focused on criticizing the «billionaire class» and advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy.

In April, Platner unveiled a tax proposal that would impose a 5% tax on wealth exceeding $1 billion while exempting working- and middle-class Americans from paying federal income taxes, according to Maine Public Radio. The Democrat is challenging longtime incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in one of the cycle’s closely watched Senate races.

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A side-by-side photo of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. (Getty Images)

Platner’s message mirrors a broader push from progressive candidates nationwide, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Seattle mayoral candidate Katie Wilson, who have campaigned on raising taxes on wealthy Americans and expanding affordability-focused policies.

The exchange underscores how fights over wealth, taxation and affordability are becoming defining issues in the 2026 election cycle, particularly in competitive races where Democrats are leaning into populist economic messaging.

A French mother who allegedly abandoned her two young children in a forest in Portugal while blindfolded was arrested with her former law enforcement boyfriend while eating at a café near Libson.

Marine Rousseau, 41, was taken into custody Thursday with Marc Ballabriga, 55, two days after the couple allegedly dumped her helpless 3- and 5-year-old children in a remote forest and left, according to Portuguese and French media.

«They stayed sitting and didn’t seem nervous,» café owner Jorge Lopes told the news outlet. «They were searched and handcuffed without any stress at all. When I saw them so at ease in front of the authorities, I was astonished. It was as if they didn’t have blood running through their veins.»

The boys were found crying and alone 125 miles away, MetroUK reported.

FLORIDA MOM ACCUSED OF ABANDONING DAUGHTER AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS TO GO DRINKING AT BAR

«Given the situation of evident vulnerability, the children were taken to the home of a local resident, where they remained and received initial care in the presence of the officers until they were transferred to a hospital unit,» Portuguese authorities said in a statement.

The two boys were in good health and were discharged from hospital on Thursday,» Portugal’s Public Ministry said.

The couple face child endangerment and abandonment charges. Ballabriga — a former French policeman who quit the force in 2010 — faces an additional aggravated assault charge.

UTAH DOOMSDAY MOM ARRESTED ABROAD AFTER ALLEGEDLY ABDUCTING FOUR KIDS, DUMPING THEM IN EUROPEAN ORPHANAGE

Marine-Rousseau allegedly left her two young sons alone in a Portuguese forest while blindfolded in Portugal, authorities said. (Getty Images)

They were ordered held pending trial.

Rousseau’s sons were rescued by Artur Quintas, a local baker who spotted them «screaming and crying» while frantically stumbling along a main road on May 19, the New York Post reported.

They were carrying backpacks stuffed only with clothes, water and snacks.

Quintas recalled the older brother telling him that their mother and her boyfriend allegedly took them into the forest and covered their eyes as part of a «game.» When they removed their blindfolds, both adults had vanished.

Marine Rousseau is charged with child endangerment. (Getty Images)

The pair have since been placed in temporary foster care.

Their biological father — who reported them missing on May 11 — is working to bring them back to France.

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«It’s only a matter of days before I get my children back,» he told French broadcaster Ici Alsace TV on Monday. «I think about them every second since the Colmar police station contacted me to tell me they were missing. My children will have to rebuild their lives, just as I rebuilt mine.

«And they don’t need to be constantly reminded of this tragedy.»