Iran’s supreme Muslim leader, Ali Khamenei, has ordered the arrest of several Revolutionary Guards, along with one of his sons, suspected of plotting to assassinate him, the Jordan-based Al Bawaba website reported.

Sources said that some of Khamenei’s own bodyguards are among those suspected in the plot.

Other prominent members of the Guards, Iran’s elite force that to a large extent is an independent power within the Islamic Republic, also are being investigated.

The plot reportedly involved trying to convince Khamenei to visit a missile base in western Tehran, the same one where a massive explosion killed more than a dozen Guards soldiers, including the head of Iran’s missile program.

Khameini’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, also is being probed. He is one of Iran’s leading businessmen.

The report of a possible military coup against the Muslim leadership indicates increasing dissent within the regime.

Two years ago, riot police and the Revolutionary Guards brutally suppressed protests against the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was widely suspected of having won on the strength of a rigged vote.