Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of Iran, is said to intend to fly to Moscow in case his security agents betray him or rebel against him due to the current instabilities in his home country, where demonstrators are protesting against him by shouting his name.

Khamenei, aged 86, will board an aircraft with his inner circle, comprising some 20 aides and family members, should the army of the Islamic Republic be overrun by the mass protests – or even in case the security forces make a decision to turn traitor, one of the intelligence services also informed the Times.

The source also said that his son and the nominated heir apparent would also escape.

The overall game of the escape by Khamenei resembles that of the late Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who took a plane and landed in Moscow with his family when most of the opposition forces invaded the capital of the country in December 2024.

The source said that they have prepared a way out of Tehran in case they see the need to leave, but the plan includes stuffing assets, properties overseas, and cash to help them escape.

The connection between Iran and Russia has warmed in recent years, that is, since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Khamanei himself has been quoted admiring the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the source said. 

Tehran has supplied Russia with types of weapons and even assisted in the development of its Unmanned Aerial System factory. 

Earlier in 2025, Russia and Iran signed a 20-year strategic partnership treaty, which was promised to expand cooperation in the field of defense and counter the use of unilateral coercive measures.

Russia observed that the treaty even lacked a commitment to assist the military of Iran.

Over 19 have already been killed in the protests that have swept 22 out of the 31 provinces of the Islamic Republic.

Several of the crowds shouted out: Death to Khamenei, but the ayatollah had at first shaken off their invectives and vowed to trounce the demonstrators into submission.

The protests have been rife following the extensive drought being experienced in Iran over the past decades, and over 10 million citizens in Tehran are habitually lacking in this water supply.

Economic collapse is also in an unprecedented situation in Iran as a single US dollar is equivalent to 42,125 Iranian rial.

President Trump indicated that the US would step in should Iran shoot and brutally kill its peaceful demonstrators, saying that “they always disregard human lives.”

In response to the threat by Trump, the regime however, retaliated and indicated that it would shoot at the US troops and treat them as legitimate targets.