DUBAI, U.A.E.: Six months after the airstrikes that triggered the war and pushed the badly injured Mojtaba Khamenei into the position of Iran's supreme leader, he has still not appeared publicly or spoken directly to the Iranian people.

Questions are growing about his health and his ability to lead the country. Iran is now facing major decisions over a war that has spread across the Middle East and placed even more pressure on an economy that was already in serious trouble.

Iranian officials and other senior sources said Khamenei remains in charge but is governing largely from a hidden location because of security concerns. They said he is recovering from severe injuries and has handed much of the routine running of the government to a small group of senior officials.

However, Khamenei has not released a single photograph, video or audio message since he was appointed supreme leader about a week after the war began. His continued absence is raising doubts among Iranians about his role in a political system where the supreme leader is expected to have the final and most powerful voice.

Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute in Washington said the main concern had now shifted from whether Khamenei was alive to whether Iran still had a fully functioning supreme leader. "The question is no longer whether ​Mojtaba is alive, but whether Iran still has a functioning supreme leader," he said.

Khamenei has communicated with the public only through a small number of written statements that were read out by state news broadcasters. He was also absent from the elaborate week-long funeral ceremonies held for his father last month.

Senior government officials and people close to the leadership said his absence was mainly linked to fears that he could be assassinated. According to them, Khamenei continues to hold regular meetings with senior officials, receive reports on major developments, and make final decisions on important matters.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said on August 10 that he had spent seven hours in a meeting with Khamenei. The statement was intended to show that the supreme leader remained actively involved in governing the country.

Despite such assurances, doubts are also beginning to emerge among some of the Islamic Republic's strongest supporters.

A member of the Basij volunteer militia in Qom, the religious city central to Iran's theocratic system, said supporters needed clear evidence that Khamenei was present and leading the country. "We need to hear our leader's voice, or see any sign that he is there on top and leading the country ​to give us more confidence," the Basij member said.

The militia member, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said he still believed Khamenei was making the country's most important decisions. However, he said the absence of even a photograph was hurting morale and did not serve Iran's interests.

Among Iranians who oppose the current political system or want major reforms, the concerns are even stronger.

At the same time, Iran's ruling establishment has reorganized itself around three main priorities: protecting the state, rebuilding its ability to deter its enemies, and preventing the economic crisis caused by the war from creating further instability inside the country.