Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has put the country's security services on the highest level of alert, as protests threaten to topple the regime, the British newspaper "Telegraph" reports, citing unnamed Iranian officials.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to establish control over the situation in the country, due to fears of defections from regular armed forces and police.
"The leader has ordered the IRGC to be on the highest level of alert, even higher than during the June war (with Israel). He is in closer contact with the IRGC than with the army or police, because he believes the risk of the IRGC defecting is almost non-existent, while others have defected before. He has put his fate in the hands of the IRGC," a senior Iranian official, who asked not to be named, told the British newspaper.
"Telegraf" writes that security services are searching for police officers who refused to shoot at protesters.
The Kurdish human rights group Hengav, based in Norway, said that Iranian authorities had arrested several members of the security forces who refused to shoot at protesters.
Unnamed Iranian officials told The Telegraph that the country is on a higher level of alert than during the war with Israel last year, and that "underground missile cities" have been put on alert.
Iranian officials fear that any intervention by US President Donald Trump could trigger an "apocalyptic" war.
"The IRGC's underground missile cities, which were deliberately left untouched during the 12-day war, are all on high alert. This time it would be very different," an anonymous Iranian official told the British newspaper.
Since 2015, the IRGC has announced the existence of four underground missile cities.
State media journalists were transported in vehicles with tinted windows, and the full details remain a secret.
Some of the underground missile storage sites are believed to be located in western Iran, to enable potential attacks on Israel.
US President Trump has threatened to attack Iran if it continues to use violence against protesters.
On Friday, he warned that he would "hit them very hard where it hurts the most."
"That doesn't mean (attacking) troops on the ground. We don't want that to happen," Trump said.
The Telegraph reports that the regime in Iran is considered to be in a "state of survival," and that despite this, Iranian officials claim that Ayatollah Khamenei has no plans to leave the country, and have rejected allegations suggesting otherwise.
Those close to him insist that "such allegations have nothing to do with his character."
"He will not leave Tehran, even if B-52s fly over him," one of the unnamed officials told the Telegraph.
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