Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, has moved to an underground bunker in Tehran, amidst tension with the US. Citing a couple of sources close to the Government of President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran International reported on January 25, 2026 that some within the Pezeshkian Administration fear that the US might launch an attack on the Islamic Republic following US President Donald John Trump‘s warning. Hence, Khamenei has taken refuge in a safe place.

Reports suggest that the safe place has been created for the religious leader by connecting various underground tunnels. Meanwhile, Masoud Hosseini Khamenei, the third son of Ayatollah Khamenei, has taken over the daily management of his father’s office. He is now acting as the primary conduit for communication between the Supreme Leader and the executive branches, amid growing internal security concerns and regional tensions.

After returning from Davos (where he attended the Annual Meeting of the 2026 World Economic Forum), President Trump warned that the US naval fleet, the Armada, was moving towards West Asia. According to the President, the US has deployed warships in West Asia to take action against Iran, if necessary.

Following President Trump’s warning, Tehran claimed that it, too, was ready to counter US aggression. A senior Iranian official has stressed that any attack on Iranian territory, regardless of a limited, surgical or a full-scale assault, will be treated as an act of all-out war and met with the hardest way possible in response. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “This military buildup, we hope, is not intended for real confrontation. But our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran.“

The US sent troops to the Middle East whenever tensions escalated there in the past. Washington DC also increased military activities in the region. However, most of those actions were defensive in nature. The scenario changed significantly after the US Air Force and Navy attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities as part of the Iran-Israel War, under the codename Operation Midnight Hammer, on June 22, 2025. President Trump has become active yet again as Iran has become volatile because of Anti-Government protests by a section of its citizens.

Demonstrations erupted in different Iranian cities on December 28, 2025 against the Government which failed to tackle the deepening economic crisis. Later, the event turned into the largest uprising since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Thousands of people staged protests across the country to oust Supreme Leader Khamenei from power. The Iranian Armed Forces allegedly gunned down more than 5,000 protesters to suppress the uprising. The Trump Administration not only backed the protesters, but also assured them that Washington DC would send Naval Forces to the Persian Gulf. Tehran, too, issued a counter-warning, asking the US not to interfere in its internal matters.

Defence analysts are of the opinion that the US-Iran conflict may trigger a renewed war-like situation in West Asia.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das