- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was lightly injured in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran
- The strike targeted a meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in western Tehran
- Israeli operation was similar to assassination of Hezbollah leader
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was lightly injured in an Israeli airstrike on June 16, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Fars News Agency reported on Sunday. Pezeshkian sustained a leg injury when an Israeli missile landed on a building in the western part of Tehran, where a meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council was taking place.
Apart from President Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Judiciary chief Mohseni Ejei, and other senior officials were also attending the meeting, the report said.
According to the report, the Israeli operation was modelled after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Six missiles targeted the building's entry and exit points to block escape routes and disrupt airflow.
The Iranian officials were present on the lower levels of the building. After the explosions, power to the floor was cut. However, an emergency hatch was prepared in advance, and the officials managed to escape through it after the attack, the Fars report said.
Along with Pezeshkian, some other officials also sustained minor injuries while exiting. The Iranian authorities are now reportedly looking into the possibility of an infiltrator, given the accuracy of the information used in the attack.
Iranian President Pezeshkian had earlier accused Israel of trying to assassinate him. "They did try, yes...They acted accordingly, but they failed," he told Tucker Carlson in an interview.
According to an Iran International report, Israel attacked an area near Shahrak-e Gharb in western Tehran on June 16.
Over the course of the 12-day war, Israeli forces killed several top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists. Among them were-- IRCG commander Hossein Salami, Iranian Armed Forces Chief Mohammad Bagheri, IRGC air force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh and other senior IRGC air force officials.
Earlier reports said that Israel planned to assassinate Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the 12-day war, but the right moment never came.
