Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei Names Successors As Assassination Threats Intensify

In the shadow of mounting military pressure and fears of assassination, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly moved to a secure underground bunker and suspended all electronic communications, drastically limiting his direct contact with top military commanders.

According to three senior Iranian officials familiar with his emergency war plans, Khamenei now communicates primarily through a single, trusted aide as Israel’s unprecedented airstrikes continue to devastate Tehran and other parts of the country.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that the supreme leader has also preemptively appointed a line of replacements across Iran’s military command in case more high-ranking lieutenants are killed in the ongoing conflict.

In what analysts describe as an extraordinary and revealing move, Khamenei has also named three senior clerics as potential successors to his position—an action that underscores the gravity of the moment for both his leadership and the Islamic Republic itself.

Ayatollah, 86, is said to view the possibility of assassination as a path to martyrdom but is determined to ensure continuity of power and the preservation of the state.

“The top priority is the preservation of the state,” said Vali Nasr, a renowned Iran expert and professor of international affairs. “It is all calculative and pragmatic.”