The Telegram channel of the Iranian newspaper Hamshahry, an official outlet of Tehran’s municipality, published a 3-minute video answering the question: Why hasn’t any audio recording of new ‘Supreme Leader’ Mojtaba Khamenei been released? The video came after a senior political figure declared that Ali Khamenei’s son remains alive.
2+The video explained that every audio file contains hidden layers from which intelligence agencies can extract the physical, geographic, temporal, technological, and biological dimensions of the speaker—from anywhere. According to the Iranian newspaper, Tehran believes five main reasons could enable tracking the ‘Supreme Leader’—reasons that can sound particularly paranoid:
First Reason: Environmental Acoustics and Room Architecture
Every enclosed space has a unique acoustic signature. Iran claims that by calculating the time it takes for sound energy to drop by 60 decibels after the source is turned off, the approximate volume of the room can be estimated. Early echoes also reveal the distance between the speaker and walls, as well as ceiling height, and determine the frequency absorption characteristics of materials such as carpet, concrete, or glass.
Second Reason: Electrical Grid Frequency Analysis
Electrical grids operate at 50 or 60 hertz, but this frequency also exhibits slight fluctuations. The newspaper believes that by matching these fluctuations to real-time databases from different countries, intelligence agencies can track the exact date, time, and even the specific segment of the electrical grid at the recording location.
2+Third Reason: Spectral Analysis and Device Hardware Fingerprinting
Every microphone and recording device leaves a different stamp on the file. Mobile phone microphones attenuate low frequencies, and low-cost components produce specific harmonic distortion that serves as the device’s fingerprint. This way too, they claim, Israel and the U.S. could track Mojtaba.
Fourth Reason: Background Noise
Sounds from ventilation systems, generators, or cooling equipment reveal the site’s technical specifications. Even in open areas, wind sound, traffic patterns, aircraft altitude, or even the types of insects and birds present can narrow down the geographic range.
Fifth Reason: Acoustic Biometrics
Vocal tract resonances, or formant frequencies (key frequencies), reveal the physical dimensions of the trachea, mouth, and nose. Even if a voice-changing device is used, software can reverse the filter. Breathing patterns and pauses between speech segments also indicate the speaker’s physical condition, heart rate, and stress level.
2+The Hamshahry presenter concluded the video by saying that just as Mossad agents were able to tell the New York Times classified details—including whether Mojtaba is alive, how the ‘Supreme Leader’ communicates, and even speculated that he’s in an underground bunker beneath one of the mountains surrounding Qom or Tehran—they would succeed in locating Mojtaba through a recording. And for this reason, the new ‘Supreme Leader’s’ voice has not been published.