Araghchi recounts Israeli and US strike that killed former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

In an interview with Iranian journalist Javad Moghoui, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recounted surviving the US-Israeli airstrike that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war

According to Araghchi, Israel and the United States had detailed intelligence on the locations of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior Iranian officials at the time of the operation. He said he was with Ali Asghar Hejazi, then deputy chief of the Supreme Leader's office, when multiple explosions struck the building.

"The building was shaken by three successive explosions. I grabbed Ali Asghar Hejazi's hand, and we managed to make our way out through the rubble," Araghchi said. He added that a passerby took him to a hospital following the attack.

Araghchi said he had no contact with other senior leaders for three days after the strikes, during which authorities worked to determine who had survived. He argued that the objective of the operation was to disrupt Iran's command structure but maintained that the effort ultimately failed. “For three days we were cut off from everything trying to find out who was alive and who had been martyred,” he said. “The enemy thought they could paralyse us by targeting leadership, but they failed.”

In the same interview, Araghchi said Tehran is seeking to exploit what it sees as diverging interests between Israel and the United States, with the aim of driving a wedge between the two allies.

He also said he had not yet met Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's new Supreme Leader, adding that the succession reflected what he described as the continuity of the Islamic Republic.