{"id":554620,"date":"2026-07-22T20:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/554620\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T20:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:38:13","slug":"irans-foreign-minister-describes-moment-of-attack-that-killed-khamenei-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/554620\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s foreign minister describes moment of attack that killed Khamenei | Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described how he was pulled from the rubble of a leadership compound after the US-Israeli airstrike that killed the country\u2019s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war, and has survived since by constantly moving around the capital, Tehran, by car.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Iranian journalist Javad Mogouyi, Araghchi confirmed Israel and the US had accurate intelligence on the location of Khamenei and other officials, enabling them to target Iran\u2019s senior leadership.<\/p>\n

He said he had yet to meet the country\u2019s new leader, Khamenei\u2019s son Mojtaba, but said his appointment sent \u201ca very important message to the world that there would be no change in the regime\u2019s policies and ideals\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Mogouyi before the resumption of all-out hostilities 10 days ago, Araghchi said he had always doubted that negotiations with the US earlier this year would work, but said they had been necessary, even if there was only a 10% chance of success \u2013 not least to ensure there was no room for doubt that Iran had pursued diplomacy. \u201cNo one would be able to tell us that it was our fault,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the interview published online on Sunday, Araghchi confirmed that Iran had offered the US a deal on its nuclear programme<\/a> in the final round of talks in Geneva, but said Oman\u2019s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, told him the following day that the mood in Washington had suddenly become more bellicose.<\/p>\n

The joint US-Israeli strikes began shortly after 9am the next day, when senior officials had gathered for meetings<\/a> at the ministry of intelligence, the strategic council on foreign policy, and the defence council.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters, in my view, is the fact that Israel had intelligence about these meetings,\u201d Araghchi said, adding: \u201cThis may point to a security gap that probably still exists. This needs to be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Araghchi was reporting back to Khamenei\u2019s deputy chief of staff, Ali Asghar Hijazi, when the building was shaken by three blasts within seconds \u2013 each closer than the last, he said. \u201cThe third explosion was almost next to our building. The section where Mr Hijazi\u2019s office was located was directly hit, and the left side of the building was completely destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hijazi\u2019s secretary was killed instantly, but Araghchi and Hijazi escaped the full force of the detonation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on the other side of the building, and after the explosion, the ceiling, walls, and everything collapsed on us. I grabbed Mr Hijazi\u2019s hand, and we made our way through the beams and boards and pieces of wood, hearing the cries for help. Water was pouring from the ceiling. Everything was wrecked. We eventually got out, and I saw that various parts of the compound had been targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Araghchi was rushed to the foreign ministry by a passerby since his official car had been hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor three days we were cut off from everything trying to find out who was alive and who had been martyred,\u201d he said. \u201cThe enemy thought they could paralyse us by targeting leadership, but they failed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbas Araghchi (second left) and other top officials attending the state ceremony for the former Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, killed on 28 February. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Araghchi said Iran had been prepared for such an attack, and had already drawn up plans to close the strategic strait of Hormuz if the supreme leader was targeted. The codename for such a scenario was \u201cCode 110\u201d, a reference to the clause of Iran\u2019s constitution that lays out the supreme leader\u2019s powers.<\/p>\n

Araghchi said the US had decided to attack because it believed Iran\u2019s government had been weakened abroad by blows to its proxies in Syria and Lebanon, and at home by economic protests \u2013 the speed and scale of which he admitted had surprised him.<\/p>\n

Araghchi said regional governments had counselled Donald Trump<\/a> against war, saying that attacking Iran would not be as easy as the US raid on Venezuela to abduct the then president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. \u201cIran is different. Its support is a several-thousand-year civilisation, combined with Shia thought and beliefs about martyrdom. When these combine, they create something that cannot be easily defeated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He told Mogouyi that Iran had warned neighbouring governments that any attack would be met with retaliation against targets in the region. \u201cIf Israel hits our nuclear facilities, we will hit theirs. Our missiles do not reach America, so we will hit their bases, which are unfortunately in your countries. If they hit our oil facilities, we will ensure that nobody in the region can sell oil,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said warnings to the Turkish government had prompted Ankara to shut down Trump\u2019s plan to encourage a Kurdish revolt from Iraq into Iran. Turkey\u2019s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, \u201ctalked to the Americans and adopted a very firm position in this regard. A series of efforts foiled this plot,\u201d Araghchi said.<\/p>\n

He added that Iran was working to exacerbate divisions between the US and Israel. \u201cThere are sometimes conflicts of objectives and positions which can be played with,\u201d he said, without giving details.<\/p>\n

Araghchi said that after Israel\u2019s 12-day bombing campaign against his country in 2025, Iran had improved its missile capabilities, reducing the time needed to reactivate a base after an attack from 10\u201315 hours to 35\u201340 minutes.<\/p>\n

Discussing the choice of diplomacy or war, Araghchi said: \u201cWe do not fight unless the cost of not fighting is higher than the cost of fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described how he was pulled from the rubble of a leadership compound…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-554620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}