Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei moved to a fortified underground shelter containing a series of tunnels in Tehran after senior security and military officials warned of an increased likelihood of an American strike, Iran International reported on Saturday afternoon.
According to the Iranian opposition outlet, Masoud Khamenei, the ayatollah’s third son, has taken over management of the supreme leader’s day-to-day responsibilities and is serving as the primary channel for communication with the regime government’s executive branches.
The Iranian assessment that a US attack has become more likely comes after US President Donald Trump said on Friday that American ships were en-route to waters near the country.
Trump: US ships sailing towards Iran
The US “has a lot of ships heading towards Iran," Trump said, adding that he "hopes we don't have to use them.”
Also on Friday, a senior Iranian official stated that Iran will treat any attack "as an all-out war against us," a message that the Islamic Republic has been repeating in recent days.
On Tuesday, the Iranian Students News Agency, quoting Iran's national security parliamentary commission, reported that any attack on Khamenei would trigger a declaration of jihad.
Prior to that, on Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that a US strike on Khamenei “is tantamount to all-out war against the Iranian nation.”
Reports of chances of a US strike against the Iranian regime have been returning after Trump seemed to back away from the possibility last week when he claimed that the killings in Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests were subsiding, and that he believed there were no plans for large-scale executions.
Since then, reports of Iran’s violence against protesters have continued to emerge from the country, despite ongoing internet blackouts. On Friday, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions against the country in response to its crackdown against demonstrators.
While the true number of people killed in the unrest remains unknown, US-based Iranian rights group HRANA’s tally confirmed early on Saturday the deaths of 5,137 people.
James Genn and Tobias Holcman contributed to this report.