A top aid to Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei is reported to be attempting to flee the country, as Israel continues its aerial assault on the Islamic Republic. Ali Asghar Hejazi is Deputy Chief-of-Staff to Iran’s Supreme Leader and is one of the most influential actors in Iran’s political establishment.
He has risen steadily through the ranks of Iran’s intelligence community and the Office of the Supreme Leader. According to the Persian-language TV Channel Iran International, the regime enforcer is in negotiations with Kremlin officials over securing asylum in Russia.
Senior Russian officials have reportedly assured him that they will evacuate him and his family via a secure corridor should the war escalate.
The independent TV channel also claimed that other senior officials of the regime are trying to secure their own guarantees from foreign governments and planning their own exit strategies from Iran.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already suggested that many of Iran’s political leadership are trying to leave the sinking ship.
In a video message posted to X social media on Saturday X, he said that Iranian leaders were “packing their bags”.
Netanyahu is hoping his ferocious attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military sites will help inspire a popular uprising against the brutal Islamic dictatorship.
The Israeli Prime Minister urged ordinary Iranians to seize the moment and overthrow Khamenei and his clerics.
“The time has come for the Iranian people to unite around its flag and its historic legacy, by standing up for your freedom from the evil and oppressive regime,” he said in a statement on Friday.
Netanyahu is hoping to exploit the public’s discontent with the state of the economy, the lack of freedom of speech, women’s and minority rights.
Iran’s former crown prince Reza Pahlavi told the BBC that the country’s rulers have been weakened and their opponents have a a chance to strike a blow against them.
He claimed that elements within the Iranian establishment were already in touch with him about a possible deal.
Iranian media report that at least 128 people have died in Israeli attacks, while at least 10 Israelis were killed in Iranian strikes overnight.
It comes as Israel and Iran continue their attacks, with reports emerging of a missile strike hitting the northern coastal port city of Haifa.
Footage and images from Haifa show thick columns of smoke rising into the night sky above the city.