Iran’s president holds first reported in – person meeting with new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

RIYADH, May 7 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has held a two-and-a-half-hour in-person meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, local media reported on Thursday — marking the first publicly reported face-to-face encounter between a senior Iranian official and the country's new supreme leader since his inauguration in March.

Pezeshkian referenced the meeting while speaking about the need to "strengthen unity, trust, and solidarity within the country's leadership structure," according to the semi-official Fars news agency. The agency did not specify when the meeting took place.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since his inauguration following U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed his father and predecessor, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All public statements attributed to the new supreme leader have until now been read out by presenters on state television, fuelling speculation about his health and whereabouts.

The disclosure comes amid growing optimism among officials that Washington and Tehran are moving closer to a diplomatic understanding.

"When the highest-ranking official in the country interacts with people and officials with such ethics, humility, and a people-oriented spirit, this behavior can naturally become a model for the country's administrative and management system as well." — IRANIAN PRESIDENT MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, CITED BY FARS NEWS AGENCY

Pezeshkian described Khamenei as having participated in the meeting with "a spirit based on simplicity, humility, sincerity, and mutual respect, which made the atmosphere completely direct, open, and accompanied by a sense of closeness and trust."