Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei, Family Hiding In Bunker As Israel-Iran Battle Escalates: Report
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Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei has reportedly been relocated to an underground bunker in Lavizan, northeastern Tehran, along with his family, amid intensifying Israeli airstrikes.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been moved to an underground bunker in northeastern Tehran, Iran International reported. Quoting sources, the report also stated that all members of Khamenei's family, including his son, Mojtaba, were also with him.
The development comes as Israel and Iran kept up their attacks, killing and wounding civilians and raising concern among world leaders meeting in Canada this week that the biggest battle between the two old enemies could lead to a broader regional conflict.
The Iranian death toll in four days of Israeli strikes, carried out with the declared aim of wiping out Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, had reached at least 224, with 90% of the casualties reported to be civilians, an Iranian health ministry spokesperson said.
According to the report, Khamenei was in an underground bunker in Lavizan.
It also claimed that Khamenei's family was taken to the bunker previously during the previous operations against Israel as well.
The report also claimed that Sunday's Israeli airstrike on the city of Mashhad in Iran was a warning to Khamenei that he is not safe anywhere in the country.
The report quoted a diplomatic source and claimed that Israel could have eliminated Khamenei on the first night of the operation, but the Israeli government chose to keep him alive to give him a final chance to decide on completely dismantling the Islamic Republic's uranium enrichment program.
Explosions shook Tel Aviv on Sunday during Iran's first daylight missile attack since Israel's strike on Friday. Shortly after nightfall, Iranian missiles hit a residential street in Haifa, a mixed Jewish-Arab city, and in Israel's south.
In Bat Yam, a city near Tel Aviv, residents braced on Sunday evening for another sleepless night after an overnight strike on an apartment tower.
Meanwhile, in Washington, two US officials told Reuters that President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Khamenei.
Israel began the assault with a surprise attack on Friday that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will escalate in the coming days.
The intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy were killed in attacks on Tehran on Sunday, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
Iran has vowed to 'open the gates of hell" in retaliation.
First Published:
June 16, 2025, 06:54 IST
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