Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly holed up in a bunker in Tehran as the country prepares for possible US military action amid ongoing nationwide protests in Tehran and the Islamic regime’s crackdown on protesters.
According to the opposition-linked Iran International news website, The Times of Israel, citing information received by Iran International, said Khamenei went underground after senior officials assessed an “increased risk of a potential US attack” following the deployment of significant US military forces in the region.
The bunker is said to contain a system of “interconnected tunnels” designed to ensure the safety of the Supreme Leader.
However, Saeid Reza Mosayeb Motlagh, Iran’s top diplomat in India, told reporters that while security is being provided to the supreme leader, he is “not hiding in a bunker or a shelter”.
Son takes over day-to-day operations
While Khamenei remains in hiding, his third-born son, Masoud Khamenei, has reportedly taken over the day-to-day operations of his father’s office. According to the report, Masoud serves as the “main channel of communication” with other government leaders.
A US Navy aircraft carrier strike group is moving to the Middle East
The development comes as a US Navy strike group moves to the Middle East amid renewed threats by President Donald Trump to take military action against Iran’s senior leadership over its crackdown on protesters.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Jan. 23 after returning from Davos, Switzerland, Trump said: “We have a large fleet going that way, and we’ll see what happens. I’d rather not see anything, but we’re watching them very closely.”
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers – USS Spruance, USS Michael Murphy, and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. — was reportedly en route through the Indian Ocean with its air wing, including F-35C fighter jets and destroyers capable of firing Tomahawk precision missiles, Bloomberg reported, which reported the location of the two U.S. units.
Protest-related deaths
The warning comes after Trump scaled back a previous threat to strike Iran after reportedly giving assurances that Tehran would not carry out planned executions of protesters. Despite these assurances, human rights groups report that the crackdown has intensified.
Nationwide protests challenge Khamenei’s regime
The protests, the biggest threat to Iran’s ruling regime in decades, were initially sparked in Tehran by the collapse of Iran’s currency and have since spread across the country with calls to end Supreme Leader Khamenei’s leadership.
Tehran has also warned the US and Israel – which carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last year – against intervening in support of the protests.
