Amid the turmoil in the Islamic Republic and mounting concerns that the US may launch a military strike, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been moved to a “special underground shelter in Tehran,” Iran International reported on Saturday.

According to the report, the decision followed warnings from senior regime military and security officials who assessed “an increased risk of a potential US attack.”

Khamenei is now housed in a fortified site with interconnected tunnels.

The report added that Khamenei’s third son, Masoud Khamenei, has taken over day-to-day management of the Supreme Leader’s office and is serving as the primary liaison between his father and the regime’s executive branches.

Overnight, a senior Iranian official remarked on the movement of US forces to the region, warning that any strike would be treated as “total war.” Speaking to Reuters, he said Iran’s armed forces are on high alert. “This time we will treat any attack—limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever you call it—as total war and respond in the harshest possible way,” he said.

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)