Ayatollah Khamenei plans to flee to Moscow if Iran unrest intensifies

[Kennah]

Source: Times of London

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has a back-up plan to flee the country should his security forces fail to suppress protests or desert, according to an intelligence report shared with The Times.

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.

Beni Sabti, who served for decades in Israeli intelligence after fleeing the regime eight years after the Islamic revolution, told The Times that Khamenei would flee to Moscow as “there is no other place for him”.


Read more: https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/iran-ayatollah-khamenei-escape-moscow-protests-revealed-h5f95ctb5?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqfEcX0GBC8ZPlbyRTPZ-4Z79_62WsqABqahnpidNY4Ql96Q9KbAGiSW&gaa_ts=695b0d88&gaa_sig=8rOra3pWYAC8dk9upa4qt_QgZKywLTjDPSoWzj1cI6LacEcdMYZsbL6P5eXObhCmVU42aRVQoWIFpCVGLczRPg%3D%3D

[Buddyzbuddy]

1. I would love to see the Felon attempt to flee.

Unfortunately the S.C. has made it unnecessary.

[FarPoint]

6. I believe by the end of summer....

Our Minister of Chaos and Crimes will flee....more looking at middle east and around there... probably Saudia Arabia.

[NotHardly]

13. 86 and his life has been a sin

[dalton99a]

2. POS and his family should be strung up

“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 source said.

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.

Nationwide protests triggered by economic hardships have gripped cities across Iran, including in the holy city of Qom, over the last week.

[Prairie Gates]

3. "Beni Sabti, who served for decades in Israeli intelligence..."

OK, there.

[DavidDvorkin]

9. Your point being?

Israeli intelligence is highly regarded.

[fujiyamasan]

4. Nice new marketing campaign for Moscow: the refuge for scoundrels!

I hope the protestors hang that motherfucker before he can leave.

[Kennah]

14. Go out Gaddafi style

[frogstar0]

5. Many barrels of salt needed.

May be true, may be an attempt to boost the protests. As always, we probably will never know unless he really leaves.

[usonian]

7. Coming soon to a resort in the U.S. ?

[ToxMarz]

8. I guess that means he's gotta pile of money stashed somewhere

Doubt Putin offers protection on the cheap, or just because he's a good guy.

[Deuxcents]

10. Most likely and his people go without while he stockpiles for himself and his family.

[FBaggins]

11. Tens of billions reportedly

Though much of it might be tough to take with him.

[IronLionZion]

12. That will encourage the protestors

since they want him to leave.

[Warpy]

15. Hard to say what that old buzzard is going to do

He's certainly been concentrating on self preservation since the US/Israel attacks, but he is an old bugger and wouldn't do well in those Moscow winters, espcially with Ukraine knocking out the power and blowing up gas pipelines. I think he'd be more likely to head for a majority Muslim country where it's warmer.

Then again, he is definitely an old bugger so he might just go for martyrdom, put one of his bodyguards up to it, quick shot to the head. Such an act would be pure spite, meatnt to impress the religious conservatives outside th big cities so they'd meekly accdpt whatever goon the Council of Mullahs appointed next. goon. Since this uprising started in those same religiously conservative areas, it's not likely to work. People are too beaten up by war, drought and sky high inflation to quit now....

....UNLESS Fatso is stupid enough to start dropping bombs on them *. One lesson of history is that people will coalesce around and support the worst governments when they are attacked by an external enemy. Case in point: the surge in support for Dubya after 9/11 here in the US.


*Having lost so many cour cases, he seems to have given up on weaponizing the DOJ and pursuing malicious prosecution in favor of a new toy, the US military. How long this will be allowed is anyone's guess.

[AZ8theist]

16. While I agree he might try to exile somewhere in the Middle East...

...there's NO WAY he will commit Hari cari.
These kinds of dictators are too fucking cowardly to make themselves martyrs.

Dotard is a prime example. Not a single ounce of courage or integrity to off himself for a cause.

[Polybius]

17. What would his options be in the Middle East?

Which are closely aligned with Iran there?

[Warpy]

18. Tyrants can and do martyr themselves, but are too cowardly to pull the trigger

and usually have a fanatically loyal bodyguard do it for them, which is why I mentioned the possibility. Most recent case im point: Jim Jones. After he listened to the screams and watched people having seizures before they died, there was no way he was going to drink that shit, nor would he pull the trigger. He had his good buddy shoot him. Adolf Hitler took the same route, too chickenshit to pull the trigger, himself.