For nearly a week, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, has been out of the public eye following the assassination of Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah by Israeli forces in an airstrike. This event marks a significant escalation, considering Nasrallah’s position as head of the Iranian-supported militant organization.
Before Nasrallah’s death, Khamenei had been urging him to leave Lebanon and seek refuge in Iran, anticipating that Israel would eventually target him, as reported by Reuters.
The situation has led Khamenei to personally oversee the launch of close to 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel this week, indicating his growing apprehension about potential Israeli spies within Iran’s government structures, including its military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Following senior IRGC commanders’ advice, Khamenei decided to retaliate with missile strikes against Israel, deeming inaction more dangerous in the wake of the assassinations of Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh, a leader within Hamas, on Iranian soil earlier in the summer.
In a notable incident, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, a senior figure in the IRGC whom Khamenei had dispatched to persuade Nasrallah to relocate to Iran, was also killed in the same airstrike that targeted their bunker in Beirut.
Since then, Khamenei has been staying in a “secure location inside Iran since Saturday,” reluctant to make any public appearances due to concerns that he might be targeted by Israel next.
The aftermath has seen a significant erosion of confidence within Hezbollah, among various Iranian factions, and between Iran and its allied militant groups, as highlighted in the report.
This growing distrust has reached a point where Iran has begun detaining IRGC members, fearing they might be collaborating with Israel. Inside sources have revealed to the media that the foundational trust that once unified these groups has eroded, leading to a situation where Khamenei “no longer trusts anyone.”