Sheltering in a bunker, Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei names potential successors

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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.

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Ensconced in a bunker, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has picked an array of replacements down his chain of military command in case more of his valued lieutenants are killed in strikes by Israel or the United States, which dropped bombs on three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday.

The attack, which President Donald Trump announced Saturday night, brings the US military directly into Israel’s war with Iran after days of uncertainty about whether he would intervene in the conflict, and marks the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that the United States has sent its Air Force to strike major facilities inside the country, an act of war.

And in a remarkable move, the Iranian 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.

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Khamenei has taken an extraordinary series of steps to preserve the Islamic Republic ever since Israel launched a series of surprise attacks June 13. 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.

Iran’s top officials are also quietly making preparations for a wide range of outcomes as the war intensifies, according to the Iranian officials, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the ayatollah’s plans.

Peering inside Iran’s closely guarded leadership can be difficult, but its chain of command still seems to be functioning, despite being hit hard, and there are no obvious signs of dissent in the political ranks, according to the officials and to diplomats in Iran.

Khamenei, 86, is aware that either Israel or the United States could try to assassinate him, an end he would view as martyrdom, the officials said. Given the possibility, the ayatollah has made the unusual decision to instruct his nation’s Assembly of Experts, the clerical body responsible for appointing the supreme leader, to choose his successor swiftly from the three names he has provided.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.