Have Iran’s Mullahs Cut and Run for a Safer Locale Than Tehran – RedState
Within the first hour of Operation Epic Fury, Iran’s Islamic government was wiped out. An Israeli airstrike hit a leaders’ meeting at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound in Tehran around 8 a.m. (Tehran time) on February 28. Not only was Khameini killed, but the list of victims included around 40 other senior officials who could reasonably be in the line of succession. In fact, it appears that the mullahs have elected one of the victims of the airstrike, Mojtaba Khamenei, as their Grand Poohbah. He has not been seen (White House Trolls Iran as Regime Tries to Hide ‘Supreme Leader’ – RedState) because he is believed to be unconscious or semi-conscious in a Tehran hospital, with an amputated leg and serious internal injuries. Did I mention he’s also in a hospital in Tehran? Other reports say he died and was elected to give a sense of continuity, while leaving the government room to choose a new leader down the line.
Reports are emerging that the ruling religious clique has decamped for Mashhad. The following is just speculation, but it is based on sources that I have found to be very reliable in the past.
A major mystery in recent days concerns exactly where regime officials give interviews on state television.
The Iranian account @Mérida2NAJ accurately identified the site as the Mashhad branch of the regime’s foreign ministry 👇 pic.twitter.com/xCapy73uWa
– Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) March 11, 2026
The premise is logical. Allied planes relentlessly track regime members, but the regime must provide the illusion of normalcy to stay in power. A congregation of leaders in Tehran will be quickly located using its electronic, cyber and human resources and then demolished.
The regime’s top brass appear to have decamped to the remote city of Mashhad, as far from US – and Israeli – bases and carriers as possible without fleeing to Afghanistan. They abandoned the capital. https://t.co/xkXk2KHe23 pic.twitter.com/tcIExBPCGs
– Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) March 11, 2026
Mashhad seems relatively loyal to the mullahs.
In Mashhad, only the airport was hit twice. The regime has become bolder. Every evening, from 8 p.m. to midnight, they broadcast “Haider-Haider”. Checkpoints are back, phones searched, patrols in hijabs threaten people. Cafes are forced to close early. Streets blocked for regime ceremonies https://t.co/z0ap44EuMH
-Zahra Maghami (@yas52467946) March 12, 2026
By moving almost to Afghanistan, they will have created a certain safe distance, at least mentally, from the center of operations.
Imagine if we still had Bagram Airfield https://t.co/nEatEkEQQF pic.twitter.com/Yt8ZIps1Jj
– Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) March 11, 2026
By the way, the Iranian government seems to want to “test Maduro” by blocking the runway of Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran.
🚨 Breaking: The regime blocked all runways at Mehrabad airport with cars, fearing that American or Israeli planes would land with special forces pic.twitter.com/aLEHAFyZPS
– Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) March 11, 2026
Any strike against Iran, whether to capture the government or to extract Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium, will require dismantling the airport involving airborne and dismounted troops (think Point Salinas Airfield in Grenada). Because getting in is easy, getting out is difficult.
However, there is no such thing as a free lunch. By leaving Tehran, they are abandoning the communication channels that have been in place for years. They can give speeches from Mashhad, but they cannot control anything or really understand what is happening. As the old adage goes, nature abhors a vacuum, and I would expect the IRGC to move quickly to fill that void. A decision by the IRGC to become the Iranian government will open many cracks in the regime that many idiots believe will never fall.
By evacuating to safety and leaving the IRGC to shoulder the pain, the mullahs have given up the last shreds of their legitimacy. If this war does not result in a popular uprising, and I think that the voices which deplore that there is no revolt two weeks after the start of this operation by a population which has been brutalized and intimidated for three generations are either dishonest or completely disconnected from human nature, its clerics will have no other role in the future Iran than that of a figurehead.
For decades, past presidents have done nothing but talk. Now, Donald Trump eliminates the Iranian threat once and for all.
Help us reveal the truth about the Trump administration’s decisive actions to keep Americans safe and bring peace to the world. Join RedState VIP and use promo code STRUGGLE to benefit from 60% off your VIP subscription.
