Yesterday afternoon at 2.15PM local time, Khamenei collapsed and was taken to his special clinic. Nobody -- except his son and the doctors -- has since been allowed to get near him. His official, but secret, status is: "in the hands of the gods".

Reportedly this collapse is natural. Many would like him to move to his afterlife but reportedly the collapse was not 'externally induced' [no poisioning].

His condition had already seriously deteriorated over the last months, aggravated by his nervous condition due to [1] his inability to solve the problems created by his manipulation of the election results and the refusal of [a large part of] the population to accept this, plus [2] his loss of religious authority by means of the repeated condemnations of events by senior clerics

Reportedly the principal aims of Khamenei of the last couple of weeks, if not months, were to ensure [1] a positive reputation as his legacy and [2] the physical survival of his family members and their wealth, reportedly now largely in Syria and in Turkey (remember the truck convoy of $8.5 billion in cash and gold that was seized by the Turks?).

If he dies it is expected that immediately a bloody clash will develop between the powers behind Rafsanjani, who will immediately claim temporary religious authority and overall control, and the powers behind Achmadinejad who will scramble in order to regain control and ensure their survival.