In a shadow of mounting military pressure and fears of assassination, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayotollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly moved to secure underground bunker and suspended all electronic communications, drastically limiting his direct contact with top military commanders.
According to a three senior Iranian officials familiar with his emergency war plans, Khamenei now communicates primarily through a single, trusted aides as Israeli unprecedented airstrikes continue to devastate Tehran and other part 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-ranking lieutenants are killed in the ongoing conflict.
In what analysts describe as extraordinary and revealing move, Khamenei has also named three senior clerics as potential successors to his position – an action that underscores the gravity of movement for both leadership and the Islamic Republic itself.
Ayotollah, 86, is said to view the possibility of assassination as a part to martyrdom but is determined to ensure continuity of power and 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”.
Ayatollah Khamenei has taken an extraordinary series to preserve the Islamic Republic ever since Israel launched a series of surprise attacks last Friday though only a week old, the Israeli strikes are the biggest military assault on Iran since its war with Iraq in the 1980’s, and the effect on the nation’s capital, Tehran, has been particularly fierce.
In only a few days, the Israeli attacks have been more intense and have caused more damaged in Tehran than Saddam Hussein did in his entire eight-year war against Iran.
-9News Nigeria.
