TEHRAN, Iran (BN24) — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sustained minor injuries while escaping an Israeli missile attack that struck a high-level government meeting in Tehran last month, a senior Iranian official said, offering the most detailed account yet of what authorities describe as an assassination attempt.
The official, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said the June 15 strike targeted the heads of Iran’s three branches of government as part of an effort to overthrow the country’s leadership. “This attempt will not pass without Israel paying a price,” the official said.
According to Iranian and semi-official media reports, the missiles hit as senior officials, including the president, were convened in the lower level of a secure government facility in western Tehran. The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that six missiles struck entrances and exits of the building, cutting off escape routes and severing electricity to the compound.
Officials managed to evacuate through a pre-designated emergency hatch in the dark, with Pezeshkian sustaining what were described as minor leg injuries as he fled.
“It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel,” Pezeshkian said in remarks released Monday. “I was in a meeting… They tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting.”
The attack came as part of a 12-day Israeli military campaign against Iran, launched on June 13, which killed senior military commanders and nuclear scientists and stalled planned nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
The intensity of the strikes — described by Iranian officials as unprecedented — prompted Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to open an investigation into whether Israeli operatives had provided targeting intelligence for the attack.
The Iranian Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said at least 1,060 people were killed in Iran during the conflict. Israel said retaliatory Iranian missile and drone attacks killed 28 people inside its territory before the United States brokered a ceasefire.
President Pezeshkian’s survival, despite the apparent precision of the missile barrage, has emboldened Iranian officials vowing a response. “This crime will not remain unanswered,” the senior official said.
aljazeera
