Difficulty in contacting Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is one of several challenges the US faces in negotiating with Tehran over an end to the war, America's UN ambassador Mike Waltz said.
He also said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been largely deferential to Mr Khamenei in terms of negotiating with the US, causing the process to take longer than Washington expected.
"I think part of it is that their leadership has been so devastated and so fractured, we know that the new ayatollah, the previous ayatollah's son, has been severely injured. He's in hiding, and he's incredibly difficult to get a hold of," Mr Waltz told ABC's Sunday political show This Week.
He was pressed about a social media post from US President Donald Trump, who warned Iran's regime 50 days ago about reopening the Strait of Hormuz, only to have the stalemate continue weeks later. “I think we should take a step back. We’re talking 50 days to deal with a 50-year-old problem," Mr Waltz said, referring to the lengthy and bitter history between Iran and the US.
He also said high-level Iranian officials had issued warnings about hitting the plethora of undersea cables crucial for global internet connections. "They've even now threatened on Iranian state TV to take over the undersea cables that flow through that waterway, which moves financial data, stock information, things that go into the cloud and data centres," he claimed.
Cyber security experts and military analysts have pointed out that since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, the country has increased cyber attack attempts around the world, while also directing drone attacks on data centres in neighbouring countries.
In the past week, Iran has resumed drone attacks against countries including the UAE, but so far the US response has been tempered. Washington has said that technically Iran had not broken the ceasefire.
Mr Waltz insisted, however, that the US naval blockade on Iran was akin to a response. "We see now Iran's economy in an absolute free fall," he said.
Retired US admiral William McRaven, also appearing on ABC's This Week, laughed at Mr Waltz's comments. "Of course the ceasefire has been violated," he said.
"Any time rounds [of fire] have been exchanged, that's a violation of a ceasefire," he added. But he was somewhat sympathetic to Mr Waltz's overall position to try to get a response to recent US proposals to end the war, he said.
Mr Waltz’s comments came shortly after Iran's Irna news agency reported that the country sent a response to the latest US proposal for ending the war, with the message delivered to mediator Pakistan.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman previously said Tehran’s views and observations on the US proposals would be sent after a final review. Irna said the current phase of negotiations would focus on ending the war in the region.
Later on Sunday afternoon, Mr Trump said he was aware of Iran's response to US proposals and that he found the country's reply to be "totally unacceptable".
Meanwhile, speculation has swirled regarding the health of Mr Khamenei. Although he has been prolific on social media, he has not yet made a public appearance.
Initially, data from his X account indicated it was created in the Netherlands, although several weeks later it showed the account was based in Iran.
