Iranian president was injured in Israeli airstrike during 12-day war: report

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was reportedly injured by an Israeli airstrike targeting a high-profile meeting in Tehran during the 12-day war, according to state media reports.

Pezeshkian, who last week accused Israel of trying to assassinate him during the war, was one of the officials who gathered at an underground facility in Tehran on June 16 for an emergency meeting of the state’s Supreme National Security Council, according to the Fars news agency.

During the meeting, six bombs were dropped on the location, with Pezeshkian said to have suffered injuries to his leg as he and the other officials escaped through an emergency shaft.

The airstrikes were extremely precise, according to the state outlet, with the bombs blocking all six main entry and exit points, along with the ventilation system.

Although the attack left the underground facility without power, Pezeshkian and the other top officials managed to get out alive.

The report provides more details on Pezeshkian’s claim last week during an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson, where the Iranian president said he had been targeted by an airstrike during a high-stakes meeting.

“They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Pezeshkian said when asked if he had been an assassination target.

“I was in a meeting. We were discussing the ways to move forward, but thanks to the intelligence by the spies that they had, they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting,” he recounted.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz denied the allegations, reiterating that a “regime change” had not been the goal of the 12-day war, which targeted Tehran’s nuclear facilities.

The plot to kill Pezeshkian has reportedly triggered an internal investigation over how Israeli agents came to know his movements and the location of the Supreme National Security Council’s meeting.

The council serves as Tehran’s top rulers after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was also a target during the war, before Israel lost sight of him when he went into deep hiding.

Since the 12-day war, Iranian authorities have arrested more than 700 people and killed at least six in a nationwide espionage crackdown, officials and human rights groups said.