Neither President Masoud Pezeshkian nor Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have been able to reach Khamenei. A secret meeting with US representatives in Istanbul has also reportedly been cancelled. Former leading figures such as Rouhani and the Larijani brothers have reportedly also tried in vain to contact him.
Despite repeated assurances about the purely “surgical” purpose of the US strikes on Iran, Washington is now making a powerful shift, dismissing the idea of regime change. Not that the idea hasn’t been in the budget for some time, but now Donald Trump is publicly raising the risk.
The US president has openly mentioned the possibility of regime change in Iran, relaunching the slogan “MIGA – Make Iran Great Again” on social media, inspired by his famous “MAGA”. “If the current regime is not capable of making Iran great again, why not regime change?” he wrote, fueling international debate about the White House’s true intentions after the raids on Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
“MIGA”
Trump said on June 21 that the US strikes were intended to “stop the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism.” However, a few days earlier, Trump threatened Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, writing on Truth Social, “unconditional surrender!” “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” he said in another June 1 post.
“He is an easy target, but he is safe there—We will not kill him!), at least not for the time being. “Our patience is running out,” he added. For days, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has disappeared from the public scene. A silence that is fueling tensions and suspicions in an Iran that is already under great pressure. According to leaks from inside sources, the 86-year-old cleric is in a secret bunker with his family, completely isolated from the outside world for fear of attacks and electronic tracking.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SUPREME LEADER
Meanwhile, neither President Masoud Pezeshkian nor Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have been able to reach Khamenei. A secret meeting with US representatives in Istanbul has also reportedly been canceled. Former leading figures such as Rouhani and the Larijani brothers have reportedly tried in vain to reach him.
Expert Saeid Golkar explains the situation to Corriere della Sera: “If no one is really able to communicate with the leader, this is a serious problem for the regime. Important decisions always go through him. The leadership is debating how to respond to the US. The hardliners want strong action, while the traditionalists and reformists think it is better to wait or opt for a symbolic action.”
KHAMENEI’S DEPUTY
In the power vacuum, rumors of a possible succession are beginning to circulate. The exiled son of Iran’s last shah offered himself as an interim leader to take over the country on Tuesday, while calling on the West to give full support to regime change. Reza Pahlavi, whose supporters call him “Crown Prince of Iran,” called on the international community to help the Iranian people oust Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his religious dictatorship. Pahlavi, 64, has spent the past 46 years outside Iran since the Islamic revolution toppled the monarchy in 1979.
The Shah’s rule included his own state security police, which were formidable, and Pahlavi has many critics among opposition activists who do not want to see a return to the monarchy. But he also has a fervent monarchist support base inside and outside Iran and has advocated for regime change for decades. Now he sees the best chance he has ever had to advance that cause. According to Pahlavi, military action is bringing Khamenei’s dictatorship to the brink of collapse, and the concept of regime change is gaining momentum in the international community. He said he believed “the chances are very good” that the regime will be gone by the end of this year.
