Video: Why former Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei defied evacuation before death —official
Abdullateef Fowewe
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader, was killed alongside family members in a targeted airstrike on his Tehran office early Saturday, Dailyeconomy reports.
Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, Representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader in India, recounted the dramatic final hours during a gathering of black-clad clerics.
“Ayatollah Khamenei was in his office and several times the security asked him to move from his office to another city, and he refused.
“He said if you could move 90 million Iranians to another city, I will move after that,” Ilahi said.
He revealed that security offered a basement shelter, but Khamenei stood firm.
“They asked him, we will provide you with a basement to be safe for you but he said if you could provide and build a basement for all Iranians,” Ilahi continued.
The cleric described how Khamenei remained in his office and home overnight, only for “the aircraft of the Zionist regime and America” to strike in the morning, killing him, his wife, daughter-in-law, and a nephew.
