Iran International reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps built a large underground complex to protect Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, under central Tehran, near his official residence. The site, called Habib Ebrahimi after Khamenei’s former driver who died before construction began, was built between 2009 and the late 2010s after about a decade of work.
According to architectural plans obtained by the outlet, the vehicle entrance led cars roughly 30 meters underground. A 27-meter tunnel connected the bunker to multiple escape routes, including exits to nearby streets, and another tunnel linked it to a parking lot near Revolution Square. Anonymous sources familiar with the project said the facility was hidden beneath what appeared to be a sports center.
The underground compound included a three-level parking garage, shooting ranges, and two shelters located about 30 and 35 meters below ground. One of those shelters contained a blast-resistant room intended to protect Khamenei during missile attacks. Iran International also reviewed construction-era images showing one of the tunnel exits being dug, along with separate images of a five-story underground office complex for senior staff in the Supreme Leader’s office.
The project was reportedly approved by Khamenei and financed by the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters, with oversight by the organization’s engineering wing, then headed by Major General Ali Masjadian. Fars News, which is linked to the IRGC, previously said construction chief Hassan Akbari died accidentally on April 29, 2016, during a weapons malfunction in training, but a security source told Iran International his death was tied to an internal power struggle in the Supreme Leader’s office.
The report says the complex was among the targets in an Israeli strike in March 2026 on the Supreme Leader’s compound, but satellite images reviewed by Iran International did not show clear evidence that the underground facility was destroyed. It also says Khamenei and senior officials killed with him were not in a fortified underground shelter at the time. The findings contradict past public claims by former Iranian officials, including former interior minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who said Khamenei had no underground shelter, and former broadcasting chief and tourism minister Ezzatollah Zarghami, who said Khamenei opposed building a personal bunker.
