Mike Baker

And that's an image that has only added to concerns about what may have been deployed by the regime.

Now, it's important to be clear here.

These are reports from the ground, but access inside Iran remains tightly restricted.

Independent verification is difficult, and the regime has offered no transparency.

I know, I too am shocked that the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard Corps have not been transparent about their brutal efforts to remain in power.

But multiple outlets and analysts say the accounts are consistent enough and serious enough that they warrant close international scrutiny.

If Tehran did, in fact, deploy chemical agents against civilians, that would represent not just another brutal episode in its long history of oppression, but a step into territory that carries enormous legal and moral and strategic consequences, none of which would likely bother the Iranian regime.

Chemical weapons are banned under international law, and their use, especially against a civilian population, would further isolate an already isolated regime.

If the reports are determined to be accurate, we can count on the United Nations and the international community to issue a very terse memo.

Of course, this new reporting comes against the backdrop of growing internal pressure.

Iran's leadership continues to face unrest, economic strain, and deep public resentment.

The use of extreme measures would suggest a regime increasingly willing to accept international condemnation in exchange for short-term control at home.

Meanwhile, it appears the regime is preparing for the possibility of a U.S.

strike at the highest level.

New reporting indicates that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has moved to a fortified underground bunker amid rising concerns that tensions with Washington could boil over into direct military action.

While Iranian officials have not confirmed that move, such a step would be consistent with contingency planning at the very top of the regime.

This comes as U.S.

military assets continue to flow into the region.

As we've reported here, a carrier strike group, or as Trump called it, an armada, air defenses and support forces have been repositioned, giving Washington a wide range of options if it chooses to escalate.

Publicly, U.S.