Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is understood to have prepared a contingency plan to flee the country should nationwide protests overwhelm the regime’s security forces, according to an intelligence assessment shared with The Times. Khamenei, 86, would leave Tehran with a tightly controlled group of fewer than 20 people, including close aides and family members, as per the report. Among them would be his son Mojtaba, widely viewed as his preferred successor. Intelligence sources say preparations include securing overseas assets, properties and liquid cash to enable a rapid exit should the regime lose control.Khamenei controls a vast financial empire through opaque charitable foundations, including Setad, estimated in the past to be worth tens of billions of dollars. Many senior figures close to the leadership already have relatives living abroad, including in the United States, Canada and the Gulf.Meanwhile, protests have continued for an eighth consecutive day, spreading to at least 222 locations across 78 cities in 26 provinces, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency. At least 20 people have been killed, including one member of the security forces, while dozens have been injured. Demonstrations began with labor strikes and economic grievances but have evolved into open calls for regime change.Videos circulating online show protesters burning images of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Khamenei, chanting nationalist slogans and lighting fires in streets from Isfahan province to Karaj. Despite heightened security deployments, authorities have failed to contain the unrest.The protests are driven by deep economic strain. Iran’s currency has collapsed amid renewed sanctions, inflation is running at around 40 per cent, and the cost of basic goods has surged. A recent rise in subsidized fuel prices further inflamed anger.US President Donald Trump warned Iran that they will be “hit very hard if they start killing people.” “If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they are going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump warned.
