It's Monday. Welcome to the P.D.B. Afternoon. Afternoon. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right. Let's get briefed.

First up, new reporting suggests Iran's supreme leader is already planning an escape route out of the country as nationwide protests enter their ninth straight day.

Later in the show, a major shakeup at the top in Ukraine as President Zelensky

taps military intelligence chief, Kirillo Budanov, to run his presidential office.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

Here at the PDB, we've been watching developments in Tehran very closely, of course, and

new reporting raises serious questions about how confident Iran's

leadership is in its ability to maintain control. According to a report from the Times,

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, has quietly plotted an escape route out of the country

should his security forces fail to bring the current wave of unrest under

control. That report, citing intelligence assessments, says the Republic's highest authority has

identified Moscow. There's a surprise as a potential destination, an exit option prepared in advance

if the situation inside Iran deteriorates beyond repair.

Reportedly, he's considering leasing a nice two-bedroom two-bath condo with former exiled Syrian despot Bashar Assad.

Okay, I made that up.

Assad is already locked into a long-term, one-bedroom, one-bath lease.

I believe it's a walk-up.

Now, authoritarian regimes or despotic leaders don't normally plan escape routes when they feel secure. That's a statement of the obvious.

They don't game out exile scenarios when they believe their grip on power is firm. Contingency

planning of this kind is not routine. It's a signal, one that suggests a great deal of

anxiety at the very top of the Iranian system. For years, Iran's leadership has projected an image

of absolute control. A state built on fear and surveillance and ruthless enforcement doesn't

...