Factions in Iran openly fight over war’s direction amid Khamenei’s absence

When Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told state television last week that he found it “very difficult” to reach the country’s supreme leader, it sparked fresh speculation about the whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei who has not been seen in public since taking over as the country’s ultimate authority in March.By Monday, Pezeshkian told the official broadcaster that the two had in fact recently held a meeting lasting “seven or eight hours”.“It was a very good meeting,” Pezeshkian told a reporter on the sidelines of a summit of the heads of political factions and politicians in Tehran, adding that the two discussed how to tackle worsening living standards in Iran as well as sharing that Khamenei’s most pressing concern was “unity and cohesion” in the country.