Events are moving fast in the Middle East region following the massive Israeli airstrikes which killed Hezbollah's longtime leader, Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah belatedly confirmed his death on Saturday.
Overnight, Iran held an emergency meeting of its national security council, at the home of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But immediately after the meeting, which was likely disclosing to Iran's leadership and miliary the death of Nasrallah, the Ayatollah was reportedly transferred to a secret and secure location.
Khamenei has been "transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place," regional security officials told Reuters.
"The sources said Iran was in constant contact with Lebanon's Hezbollah and other regional proxy groups to determine the next step after Israel announced that it had killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on south Beirut on Friday," the report added.
Given Israel's surprise and bold decapitation strike against Hezbollah, Iran likely fears that Israel could go after the Islamic Republic's top leadership in Tehran next. Netanyahu had warned this week, "There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach."
There are unconfirmed reports that one or more Iranian IRGC offers were killed in the strike that took out Nasrallah.
So far Iran has been mute in terms of a military response. Will it launch ballistic missiles on Israel? Will it mount attacks on other Israeli assets in the region or across the globe?
Did Khamenei go to a secure location in order to oversee a new war?
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