Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Attempted assassination of Masoud Pezeshkian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
On 16 June 2025, Israeli forces attempted to assassinate Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian during the Iran–Israel war.[1][2][3][4] According to the Fars news agency, and also confirmed by U.S. intelligence sources,[5] Pezeshkian was lightly injured while escaping the assassination attempt.[6][7][8][9] The assassination attempt on president Pezeshkian's life occurred while he was in a Supreme National Security Council meeting in Tehran with other top Iranian officials that included Mohseni Ejei, a head of the judiciary, and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.[10][11][5]
 | This article was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 15 July 2025 with a consensus to merge the content into the article Masoud Pezeshkian. If you find that such action has not been taken promptly, please consider assisting in the merger instead of re-nominating the article for deletion. To discuss the merger, please use the destination article's talk page. (July 2025) |
Remove ads
Background
A war between Iran and Israel began when Israel launched decapitation surprise attacks on key military and nuclear facilities in Iran on 13 June 2025, in the midst of the Gaza war and its broader regional spillover.[12][13] In the opening hours of the war, Israeli air and ground forces assassinated some of Iran's prominent military leaders, nuclear scientists,[14] and politicians.[6][15][16] Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, stated in 2025 that his country also wanted to kill Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during the Iran–Israel war but didn't know about his whereabouts.[17][18][19][20][21]
Remove ads
Event
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and other Iranian officials said that on 16 June 2025, during the Iran–Israel war, an attempt on president Pezeshkian's life occurred while he was in a Supreme National Security Council meeting before noon with other top Iranian officials that included Mohseni Ejei, a head of the judiciary, and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf,[10][22] and suggested Israeli forces were tipped off by spies.[23][24][25][26][27] According to reports, Pezeshkian was lightly injured while escaping the assassination attempt, suffering a minor leg injury.[6][28]
The assassination attempt included a strike on a building where Pezeshkian was having a meeting with other top Iranian officials. The strike used six missiles or bombs to target the building's entrances and exits to block escape routes and disrupt air circulation, reminiscent of the operation that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.[29] Despite a power cut to the targeted floor, Iranian officials, including Pezeshkian, managed to escape through a pre-planned emergency exit. Pezeshkian and some others suffered minor leg injuries during the escape.[6][29][30]
Remove ads
Aftermath
The precision of the attack prompted Iranian authorities to investigate the possibility of an intelligence breach.[29][31] Following the failed assassination attempt, Iran claimed that the assassination attempt was part of an Israeli plan aimed at toppling the regime in Iran, and that the strike targeted the heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in order to disrupt the state's operations.[32] Iran vowed that Israel would pay the price for the assassination attempt on president Pezeshkian.[32][23] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had not ruled out assassinating Khamenei in the future.[33][34][35][36]
Reactions
According to former Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, Israel "broke a millennia-old tradition" by targeting national leaders, and that it was intended to bring chaos to the region.[37]
See also
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads