Iranian officials have shunned reports that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the U.S.-Israeli military operation reportedly targeting him and other regime leaders.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that “as far as I know,” both Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian, another target of the strikes, are still alive, during an interview with NBC News.
Pezeshkian “in good health and well-being,” according to Mohammad Jafar Ghaem-Panah, Iran’s Executive Vice President and acting head of the presidential office. Araghchi said that several Iranian commanders may have been killed, but argued, “This is not a big problem,” said regime change was “mission impossible,” and expressed willingness to pull back from counter-attacks and resume diplomatic talks if the U.S. and Israel halted strikes.
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There is no official confirmation regarding whether the strikes killed or injured Khamenei, after President Donald Trump announced overnight that the U.S. and Israel targeted Iran. Khamenei, 86, Pezeshkian, and other senior leaders were both targeted in a U.S.-Israeli attack that was months in the planning, according to multiple reports. Khamenei’s residence was leveled by strikes, according to satellite imagery from Airbus Defence and Space obtained by the New York Times and other outlets.
The joint U.S.-Israeli strike appears to have been meticulously planned over the last few months to comprehensively undermine the Iranian regime and target senior officials gathered in a major sweep. Intelligence preparation and coordination were critical, as Israel targeted three sites they had identified where senior Iranian officials were gathering, according to multiple reports.
The preliminary assessment among Israeli officials is that Khamenei was hurt in the strike, and that Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammed Pakpour were killed, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Several senior figures essential to the management of the campaign and the Iranian regime’s governance were “eliminated,” and an Israeli military official told NBC News that the U.S. and Israel had worked jointly “for thousands of hours” to develop a bank of targets in Iran.
Whether Khamenei was moved before the strike or was extracted after is unknown.
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Iran has retaliated by firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel and U.S. bases throughout the region, including ones in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Tehran’s response has attracted global concern, with international leaders calling for diplomatic talks to resume and all military operations to halt.
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump has spoken on the phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Trump also monitored the military assault in Iran “overnight at Mar-a-Lago alongside members of his national security team,” she said.