Report: Iranian president injured in Israeli strike during the war

The Iranian news agency Fars reported this morning (Sunday) that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was injured in his leg during an Israeli strike amid Operation Rising Lion.

According to the report, the strike took place on June 16, targeting a building in western Tehran, while a meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council was being held on one of its lower floors.

It was further reported that six bombs or missiles were aimed at entry and exit points to block air circulation routes. The attack is said to resemble the style of the strike that eliminated Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah.

Following the explosions, power was cut off to the floor where the council meeting was taking place, but the participants managed to escape through an emergency exit.

At the opening of Operation Rising Lion, Israel eliminated Iran's army’s chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, and four other senior officials, including the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Air Force. Additionally, there were reports of a fire at the Revolutionary Guards’ headquarters in Tehran.

According to known information, Pezeshkian’s name did not appear as a target for assassination during the war. Conversely, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “would have been thwarted if he had become a target,” according to statements by Israel’s Defense Minister Israeli Katz.

In an interview given by Katz to Kan News, the defense minister said that Khamenei “went underground and disconnected communication. It was not realistic to eliminate him during the war.”

Written by KAN 11 correspondents Itamar Margalit and Dov Gil-Har.