Fearful of being murdered, Iran’s supreme leader now communicates mainly with his commanders through a trusted advisor. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suspended electronic communications to make it difficult, said three Iranian authorities familiar with his emergency war plans.
Guarded on a bunker, the Supreme Leader chose a series of substitutes in his military chain if others of his lieutenants are killed.
In a remarkable movement, the authorities added, Khamenei even named three senior clerics as candidates for his succession if he is also killed – perhaps the most revealing illustration of the critical moment he and his three -decades government face.
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Khamenei has taken an extraordinary series of measures to preserve the Islamic Republic since Israel launched a series of surprise attacks on June 13.
Although they have occurred just a week ago, Israeli attacks have been the largest military offensive to Iran since the war with Iraq in the 1980s, and the effect on the country’s capital, Tehran, has been particularly violent. In just a few days, Israeli attacks were more intense and caused more damage than Saddam Hussein throughout their eight -year war against the country.
Iran seemed to have surpassed the initial shock, reorganizing enough to launch daily counterattacks against Israel, hitting a hospital, the Haifa oil refinery, religious buildings and homes.
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But then the United States also entered the war. US President Donald Trump announced at the end of Saturday that, including the Uranium Enrichment Center in Fordow, significantly expanding the conflict.
“Our goal was to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and end the world’s number 1 nuclear threat in sponsorship of terrorism,” Trump said in a nation speech in the White House on Saturday night.
