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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly selected three potential successors and established a contingency leadership framework to guarantee governmental continuity should he be assassinated, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

Citing Iranian officials, the report states that the 86-year-old leader is operating from a secured underground bunker, with restricted electronic communications.

“He now communicates with military commanders only through a trusted aide to avoid being traced,” one official explained.

Khamenei, anticipating the possibility of being directly targeted, has instructed Iran’s Assembly of Experts—the constitutional body responsible for appointing the next supreme leader—to act swiftly in choosing from his designated list of successors should the worst occur.

In a parallel move, Khamenei has also preferred backups down the military command chain, anticipating further Israeli strikes against senior officers. Several high-ranking commanders, including those from the Revolutionary Guard, the army, and emergency forces, have already been killed during the opening stages of the conflict.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has reportedly ordered top officials to remain underground and cease use of cell phones or any electronic communication.

Although the dissident media outlet Iran International claimed that Khamenei and his family relocated to a shelter in Lavizan (northeast Tehran), this has not been independently confirmed.

Succession in Iran traditionally involves opaque, deliberative processes managed by the Assembly of Experts. However, amid war and heightened threats, Khamenei seeks a rapid, tightly controlled transition.

Significantly, his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, rumored as a potential heir in the past, is not among the three chosen successors. Earlier frontrunners, including former President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last year, are similarly excluded.

Officials describe the current approach as ensuring “martyrdom with stability”, presenting any assassination not as disruption but as a strategic sacrifice.

The revelations followed aggressive comments from Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said “Khamenei cannot continue to exist” following Iranian missile strikes on Israel, including a hospital in Beersheba. Though Israeli sources stopped short of confirming direct targeting of Khamenei, former U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly halted Israeli assassination plans, saying he “is aware of Khamenei’s location, but is holding off any strike for now,” while evaluating further U.S. involvement.

Despite sustaining heavy losses—including over 470 ballistic missiles and roughly 1,000 drone strikes from Iran—military and political analysts note that Iran’s command structures remain largely intact, with no visible signs of internal dissent.

One Iranian official affirmed that the succession move ensures:

“Martyrdom with stability.”

Iranian parliamentary adviser Mahdi Mohammadi reflected on the cost:

“Our senior commanders were all assassinated within one hour.”

Meanwhile, some political voices see a silver lining. Reformist leader Mohammad Ali Abtahi told The Times from Tehran:

“The crisis has softened divisions within the Islamic Republic and fostered unity against a common external threat.”

The swift coordination of succession protocols marks a historic shift in Iran’s leadership dynamics—one designed to protect the regime from internal chaos even as external pressures intensify.

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