TEHRAN -- A senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has revealed that Israel plotted to attack a high-level meeting of Iranian officials, including heads of government and later target the Leader himself, but the scheme was successfully foiled.
“The enemy’s plan in this war was to target IRGC commanders and key national centers simultaneously. They believed they could pressure certain officials into abandoning the establishment through threats,” Ali Larijani said in a televised interview.
Larijani, who served as Parliament speaker between 2008 and 2020, further revealed that during the war, Israel attempted to intimidate a range of Iranian officials, including politicians, military officers, and security personnel.
“On Friday, they contacted me and gave me 12 hours to leave Iran or get out of Tehran—or else, they said, I’d meet the same fate as martyrs like [Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Muhammad Hussein] Bagheri and [commander of Iran’s top military headquarters Major General Gholam-Ali] Rashid. But I gave them the answer they deserved,” he said.
Referring to the U.S. aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, Larijani dismissed the move as a “face-saving” gesture, saying, “Let them be happy with that.”
Pointing to Iran’s retaliation against the U.S. aggression on Iranian soil, Larijani said, “Out of 14 Iranian missiles, six struck the American base [in Qatar] - and they hit hard, each carrying a 400kg warhead.”
U.S. President Donald Trump, trying to save face, claimed “only one missile hit,” he said, adding let him “enjoy his delusions.”
After more than a week into the war, the U.S. decided to finally make its collaboration with the Israeli regime official, with direct intervention in the war that the Israeli regime has been losing.
On June 22, the United States joined the Israeli regime in the assault and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
A day later, Iran launched a wave of missiles at Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia, in retaliation for the U.S. aggression.
As the Iranian armed forces pounded Israel and its military and industrial infrastructure, using many new-generation missiles that precisely hit the designated targets, the embattled regime was forced to unilaterally cease its aggression against Iran on June 24.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani said the U.S. engaged in five rounds of indirect talks with Iran prior to the aggression solely to mislead Iran, while Israel carried out the strikes in complete coordination with Washington.
“The U.S. used talks as a capacity for deception and military aggression,” he noted.
The Israeli regime launched its aggression on Iran just two days before the sixth round of indirect talks, which were scheduled to take place in Muscat.