Hyderabad, July 31 -- The United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel's Mossad have shifted to human intelligence in an effort to locate Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to a report by The Times, which cited current and former intelligence officials.

The newspaper said the operation is intended to determine whether Khamenei is alive, establish his whereabouts and assess his condition. It reported that efforts to trace him through electronic surveillance have yielded little because he has reportedly avoided using phones, laptops and other digital devices since February 28.

According to the report, intelligence agencies are attempting to identify couriers believed to carry handwritten messages between Kham...