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Politics12 outlets ran this4 min read

Iranian president calls contact with supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei 'very difficult'

Masoud Pezeshkian’s televised remarks come as Mojtaba Khamenei remains unseen since succeeding his father in March 2026

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
Iranian president calls contact with supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei 'very difficult'

What this story says

  • Masoud Pezeshkian said on Iranian state television that contact with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is 'very difficult'.
  • Mojtaba Khamenei has not made any public appearances since succeeding his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in March 2026.
  • The remarks follow reports that Mojtaba Khamenei warned Pezeshkian against resubmitting his resignation.
  • No left-rated outlet carried the story, according to the reports below.

Who covered it

Left 0%(0)Centre 25%(2)Right 75%(6)

Percentages are shares of the 8 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 4 of the 12 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

54/100

Craft

77/100

Hype

15/100

12 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

None of the 8 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on 5 August 2026 that communication with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is currently 'very difficult'. The remarks were broadcast on state television. Pezeshkian did not explain what made the contact difficult.

Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the latter was killed in US and Israeli strikes in early 2026. He has not appeared in public since taking office. Iranian state media have not released audio of him, citing concerns about revealing his location or condition.

Pezeshkian’s comments came after a reported phone call with Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’s political bureau. Iranian state media said Pezeshkian told al-Hayya that Tehran would support any decision Palestinian leaders made in indirect negotiations with Israel.

What the reports disagree on

The date of the US and Israeli strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is given as February 2026 by BT and as early 2026 by the Jerusalem Post. The reports do not agree on whether the strikes occurred in February or earlier in the year.

What the coverage left out

No left-rated outlet ran the story, according to the reports printed below. None of the right-rated digests mentioned the reported phone call between Pezeshkian and Hamas’s Khalil al-Hayya.

Tags:#IranLeadership#MiddleEastPolitics#SupremeLeader#USIsraelStrikes#Pezeshkian

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 5 Aug 2026, 21:30, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

0 rated outlets

No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.

Centre

2 rated outlets

  • The two centre-rated digests led on Pezeshkian’s statement that communication with Mojtaba Khamenei is 'very difficult'. France24’s digest noted that Khamenei has not appeared in public since his appointment. The Jerusalem Post’s full report added that Pezeshkian’s remarks followed a phone call with Hamas’s Khalil al-Hayya and that Mojtaba Khamenei had warned Pezeshkian against resubmitting his resignation.
  • The Jerusalem Post quoted Pezeshkian directly: 'very difficult'. It also reported that Iranian state media had avoided releasing audio of Mojtaba Khamenei, citing fears of revealing his location and condition. The report listed five methods by which a recording could expose his whereabouts.

Right

6 rated outlets

  • All six right-rated digests led on Pezeshkian’s statement that communication with Mojtaba Khamenei is 'very difficult' or 'hard'. Globo’s digest added that Pezeshkian called Khamenei’s presence 'an important source of strength'. BT’s digest noted that Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since a US-Israeli attack in February 2026.
  • None of the right-rated digests mentioned the reported warning Mojtaba Khamenei sent to Pezeshkian about resubmitting his resignation. None carried the detail that Iranian state media had avoided releasing audio of the supreme leader.

Read it at the source

12 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

0

No outlet in this group ran the story.

Centre

2

Right

6

Not rated

4

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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Iranian president says contact with supreme leader is difficult | MediaBias News