In the shadow of the growing wave of protests in Iran: US President Donald Trump issued another threat to the Islamic Republic last night (Monday).
""If they start killing people like they did in the past - I think they will be hit very hard by the United States," the president said.
Trump, who spoke to reporters on his way back to Washington from a vacation at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, repeated a similar message he posted two days ago on the social media site Truth. "If Iran kills protesters, the United States will come to their aid. We are ready for that," he wrote at the time.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council responded at the time that American intervention "would lead to chaos in the entire region.".
According to a report published tonight in the British newspaper The Times, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, is already preparing the ground for the possibility of the fall of his regime.
According to the report, which is based on an intelligence report obtained by the newspaper, the 86-year-old Khamenei formulated a secret escape plan to Moscow for himself and about 20 of his family members and closest aides, in case the waves of protests in the country lead to the collapse of the ruling structure in Tehran.
The decision is based on Khamenei's grave concern about a scenario in which the Iranian security forces will lose the ability to suppress the protesters, or alternatively choose to lay down their weapons and join the protest.
The documents presented state: "Khamenei will flee Tehran with his inner circle if the army and security forces abandon, desert, or fail to carry out his orders." This scenario, the report claims, was seen by him as a red line from which there was no return.
Alongside the leader's personal preparations, an intelligence source noted that there is a "Plan B" focused on rescuing his son, Mujtaba, who has been designated as his designated successor in leadership.
Israeli researcher Benny Sabati, from the Institute for National Security Studies, told The Times that Khamenei sees Russia as almost the only destination for escape. He said, "because there is no other place that will accept him.".
The current escape plan draws direct inspiration from the fall of Khamenei's ally, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fled Damascus for Moscow upon the collapse of his regime in December 2024.
According to intelligence sources, a detailed escape route from Tehran was planned, including logistical preparations for what was defined as "gathering assets in Iran and abroad, in addition to money that will help secure safe passage." More than a decade ago, Reuters reported that Khamenei controls a network of assets estimated to be worth about $95 billion, capital that is expected to serve him and his family if he is forced to flee Iran.
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