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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is preparing to flee to Moscow if unrest in the country intensifies.
According to London’s Times newspaper, an intelligence report reveals Khamenei’s back-up plan if the regime is unable to regain control of the streets.
The Times reports, “Khamenei, 86, plans to escape Tehran with a close circle of up to 20 aides and family, should he see that the army and security called on to quell the unrest are deserting, defecting or failing to follow orders.”
“The ‘plan B’ is for Khamenei and his very close circle of associates and family, including his son and nominated heir apparent, Mojtaba,” an intelligence source told The Times.
Khamenei’s “getaway plan” is based on the flight of Syria’s Bashar-al-Assad, who fled Damascus to join his family in Moscow before opposition forces took the capital in December 2024.
“They have plotted an exit route out of Tehran should they feel the need to escape,” which includes “gathering assets, properties abroad and cash to facilitate their safe passage”, the intelligence source said.
The Times continues, “Khamenei is known to hold a major network of assets, some under one of the most powerful organisations in Iran, Setad—part of a system of semi-state charitable foundations known for their financial obfuscation. Estimates put the total holdings at $95 billion, according to a Reuters investigation in 2013, including properties and companies, all held and controlled by Khamenei.
“Many of his closest aides, including the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, Ali Larijani—who warned President Trump to stay out of Tehran’s affairs—have family members already living abroad, including in the US, Canada and Dubai.”
Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests in response to growing economic hardship.
Protesters have accused security forces, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, under the direct control of Khamenei, of responding with deadly force.
Since last year’s 12-day war with Israel, Khamenei has barely been seen in public, and has not made any public appearance since the beginning of the latest bout of unrest.
A psychological profile provided to The Times by a Western intelligence agency describes Khamanei as a “paranoid” leader: “On one hand, he is very ideologically motivated, but on the other he is pragmatic in what he sees: he sees tactical compromise for long-term greater cause. He is a long-term thinker.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, born in 1939 in Mashhad, Iran, to a clerical family, pursued Shia Islamic studies before becoming an active opponent of the Shah’s regime. He was arrested and exiled for revolutionary activities.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, he held key roles, including deputy defense minister and Revolutionary Guard commander. An assassination attempt in 1981 paralyzed his right arm. Elected president in 1981 and reelected in 1985, he led Iran through the Iran-Iraq War. Following Ayatollah Khomeini’s death, Khamenei became Supreme Leader in 1989, a position he has held ever since.
