SAEDNEWS: A Fars News investigation reveals how a June 16 airstrike on Iran’s Supreme National Security Council nearly trapped the country’s highest officials underground—only for them to escape through an emergency shaft.
According to Saed News, on June 16 the Israel Defence Forces launched a meticulously planned strike against a fortified underground facility in western Tehran, convened for a session of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). Present at the meeting were President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Judiciary Chief Gholam‑Hossein Mohseni‑Eje’i and senior military and security leaders.
Fars News reports that six precision munitions were deployed to seal exits, cut ventilation and trap occupants—tactics reportedly modelled on the 2004 assassination attempt against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Despite the sophistication of the assault, those inside fled via a pre‑planned emergency shaft; President Pezeshkian suffered only minor leg injuries during the evacuation.
The SNSC, chaired by the president under the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, sets Iran’s national defence policies. Its 23 members include top commanders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and regular armed forces. An Iranian official told Al Jazeera that the June meeting was dedicated to “strategic decisions to counter Israeli aggression,” marking it as a prime target for a decapitation strike.
This failed attack formed part of a 12‑day campaign initiated by Israel on June 13. According to Saeed Ohadi, head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, at least 1,060 Iranians—among them several senior commanders—have been killed; he warned the toll may yet rise to 1,100. Western media, the report notes, have largely ignored the human cost of these strikes on civilian and military leadership targets.
In a rare interview with Tucker Carlson, President Pezeshkian confirmed the attempt on his life: “They did try. They acted accordingly, but they failed.” Presidential adviser Mehdi Tabatabaei told Al Mayadeen that regional intermediaries even relayed U.S.‑Israeli ceasefire pleas following the plot’s collapse—an admission of failure, he suggested, to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
Ali Larijani, senior advisor to the Supreme Leader, disclosed an allegedly broader scheme: Israel intended to assassinate the heads of all three branches of government, then target Ayatollah Khamenei himself. He claimed to have received an ultimatum from Israeli intelligence on June 12: leave Iran or “share the fate” of past victims. Former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei added that the regime aimed to sow nationwide chaos, infiltrate militants and ultimately fracture the country.
An anonymous official quoted by Al Jazeera described the strike as designed to “paralyse the country” by eliminating its wartime leadership. Iranian authorities have vowed retribution, insisting that this brazen assassination attempt “will not go unanswered.”
