Iran: Sheltering in a bunker, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei names successors

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not only picked replacements in his chain of military command in case they are killed in Israeli strikes, he has also named three senior clerics to replace him should he, too, be slain.

Wary of assassination, Iran's supreme leader mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications to make it harder to find him, three Iranian officials familiar with his emergency war plans say.

Ensconced in a bunker, Khamenei has picked an array of replacements down his chain of miliary command in case more of his valued lieutenants are killed.


And in a remarkable move, the officials add, Khamenei has even named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, as well - perhaps the most telling illustration of the precarious moment he and his three-decade rule are facing.

Ayatollah Khamenei has taken an extraordinary series of steps 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 1980s, 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 damage in Tehran than Saddam Hussein did in his entire eight-year war against Iran. Iran appears to have overcome its initial shock, reorganising enough to launch daily counterstrikes of its own on Israel, hitting a hospital, the Haifa oil refinery, religious buildings and homes.

Iran's top officials are also quietly making preparations for a wide range of outcomes as the war intensifies and as President Trump considers whether to enter the fight, according to the Iranian officials.

Ayatollah Khamenei, 86, is aware that either Israel or the US could try to assassinate him, an end he would view as martyrdom, the officials said. Normally, the process of appointing a new supreme leader could take months, with clerics picking and choosing from their own lists of names. But with the nation now at war, the officials said, the ayatollah wants to ensure a quick, orderly transition and to preserve his legacy.

Ayatollah Khamenei's son Mojtaba, also a cleric and close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, who was rumored to be a front-runner, is not among the candidates, the officials said. Iran's former conservative president, Ibrahim Raisi, was also considered a front-runner before he was killed in a helicopter crash in 2024.