 "Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message following the Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 18, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters")
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has rejected United States President Donald Trump’s demand for “unconditional surrender” amid escalating military tensions between Tehran and Israel. Reports have emerged that the US could enter the conflict in West Asia, as Iran and Israel continue to trade strikes and drone attacks for the seventh straight day.
The Iranian Supreme Leader has warned the US against military involvement in his country. Khamenei said in a recorded speech on Wednesday (June 18) that “military intervention” by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.”
“The Iranian nation will not surrender,” he declared. This was Khamenei’s first appearance since Israel launched its surprise attack, dubbed Operation Rising Lion, on Friday, triggering a conflict. Speculations have arisen about Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s whereabouts amid threats to his life.
Where is he? We take a look.
Where is Iran’s supreme leader?
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is reportedly in a bunker as Tehran and Israel’s conflict intensifies.
The 86-year-old was shifted to an underground bunker in Lavizan in northeastern Tehran hours after Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear programme and top military officials on early Friday, informed sources inside Iran told London-based Iran International.
All his family members, including his son Mojtaba, are with him. Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to be the frontrunner to replace his father as Iran’s supreme leader in the event of his death.
Israeli strikes have killed several top Iranian military officials and nuclear experts. The deceased include Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Hossein Salami; Ali Shadmani , Iran’s wartime Chief of Staff during Israel’s Operation Rising Lion and a senior aide to Supreme Leader Khamenei; and Mohammad Kazemi, the chief of intelligence of the IRGC.
On Sunday, Israel targeted the Iranian city of Mashhad, located 2,300 kilometres from the Jewish nation. The airstrike was a warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader that he is not safe anywhere in the country, a diplomatic source in West Asia told Iran International.
Experts say Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei is expected to avoid public appearances amid threats to his life. “I think they’ll be concerned that Israel has clearly penetrated them inside out, so they will be looking to all possible corners from how to keep him safe, perhaps moving him from place to place,” The Economist’s defence editor, Shashank Joshi, told BBC.
“Given the current Israeli threat, the Israeli defence minister saying Tehran will burn if you attack our cities, Netanyahu’s threat of regime change, the clinical precision attacks on the top generals [on Friday], I think it is unlikely Khamenei will risk coming out,” Joshi added.
Will Israel kill Iran’s Supreme Leader?
After Iran’s strikes hit the main hospital in southern Israel early Thursday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened that Khamenei “can no longer be allowed to exist”.
He wrote in a post on X, “The cowardly Iranian dictator sits in the depths of a fortified bunker and fires missiles at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel. These are war crimes of the most serious kind - and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier claimed that the conflict with Iran will end if his country targets Khamenei. His remarks came amid reports that US President Trump rejected Israel’s plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, fearing it would widen the conflict.
Netanyahu told ABC News this week, “It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.”
“We’ve had half a century of conflict spread by this regime that terrorises everyone in the Middle East (West Asia); has bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia; is spreading terrorism and subversion and sabotage everywhere,” Netanyahu said. “The ‘forever war’ is what Iran wants, and they’re bringing us to the brink of nuclear war. In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing this, bringing an end to this aggression, and we can only do so by standing up to the forces of evil.”
On whether the Jewish country would target Khamenei, Netanyahu said that Israel was “doing what we need to do.”
Two US officials told Reuters on Sunday that the American president had asked the Israeli PM to refrain from assassinating Khamenei.
In a post on social media on Tuesday (June 17), Trump said the US knew where Khamenei is hiding but doesn’t want him killed “for now.”
“We know exactly where the so-called Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump added. “He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
Will US intervene in Iran war?
Trump has been ambiguous about America’s next step as Israel and Iran launch strikes and counterstrikes.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump did not offer clarity on whether he has decided to join Israel’s military attacks against Iran or not. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
As per The Wall Street Journal report, Trump told his senior aides he gave a nod to plans to attack Iran, but was not giving the final order to strike the country to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear programme.
On whether the Iranian government could collapse due to the Israeli campaign, Trump said: “Sure, anything could happen.”
The US has been increasing its military presence in West Asia. US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was heading west from south-east Asia to join a strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson, already in the Gulf. America is also moving F-35 jets and tanker aircraft to West Asia.
With inputs from agencies