Khaberni - "The New York Times" reports that the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped in pinpointing the location of a meeting for prominent Iranian leaders, before Israel executed strikes targeting the site in Tehran, in an operation that resulted in the death of the Supreme Iranian Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several top military officials.
According to the newspaper, the agency had been tracking Khamenei's movements for months and managed to enhance its information regarding his whereabouts and movement patterns. Just before the attack, the agency learned of a meeting of senior Iranian officials on Saturday morning at a leadership complex located in the heart of Tehran, and it was confirmed that the Supreme Leader would be present. The newspaper mentioned that the United States and Israel decided to adjust the timing of the attack to benefit from the new intelligence information, providing them, according to its description, a "window of opportunity" to achieve an early target represented in the elimination of high Iranian leaders, including Khamenei.
The New York Times indicated that the speed of the operation reflected a high level of coordination and information exchange between Washington and Tel Aviv, along with a deep penetration of the Iranian leadership's intelligence, especially after last year's twelve-day war. The newspaper also considered the operation to have exposed the Iranian leadership's failure to take sufficient precautions, despite the overt readiness indicators for war.
According to the report, the "CIA" transferred information described as "high precision" about Khamenei's location to Israel, which relied on it, along with its own information, to execute a long-planned operation targeting senior Iranian leaders. The attack was originally scheduled to be executed at night, but both the American and Israeli governments decided to change the timing to benefit from the meeting being held on Saturday morning at the government complex hosting the offices of the presidency and the supreme leader and the supreme council of national security.
The newspaper mentioned that Israel estimated that the meeting would include a number of senior officials, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces Abdul Rahim Mousavi, commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard Mohammad Pakpour, defense minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, military council president Ali Shamkhani, space force commander of the Revolutionary Guard Majid Mousavi, deputy minister of intelligence Mohammad Shirazi, along with other officials.
According to the report, the operation began around 6:00 AM Israeli time, with fighter jets taking off from their bases, equipped with long-range and high-precision munitions. About two hours and five minutes after takeoff, at around 9:40 AM Tehran time, the missiles hit the targeted complex.
The newspaper mentioned that senior national security officials in Iran were gathered in one of the complex's buildings at the moment of the strike, while Khamenei was in another nearby building. It quoted an Israeli defense official saying the strike was executed "simultaneously at several locations in Tehran, one of which hosted a meeting of top figures from Iran’s political-security echelon," adding that Israel had achieved a "tactical surprise" despite Iran's war preparations. The newspaper noted that the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency refrained from commenting.
American President Donald Trump announced on Saturday the death of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump stated in a post on the Truth Social platform: "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history, is dead."
