Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was reportedly slightly injured during an Israeli airstrike on June 16 targeting a secret underground facility in Tehran. According to Iran’s state-linked Fars News Agency, six bombs struck all access points to the facility, where Pezeshkian was attending a Supreme National Security Council meeting. The attack blocked exits, disabled the ventilation system, and cut electricity. Pezeshkian reportedly escaped via an emergency shaft, suffering leg injuries in the process.
The report has not been independently verified, and Israel has made no official comment. Social media footage from the 12-day conflict showed repeated strikes near a mountainside in north-west Tehran, now believed to have targeted the secret facility. The Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top decision-making body after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was said to be in session during the strikes.
Pezeshkian later accused Israel of attempting to assassinate him—an allegation denied by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who stated regime change was not the war’s objective. However, Israel reportedly targeted and killed numerous senior IRGC and army commanders in the early stages of the war, and Iranian leaders have acknowledged being caught off guard, with decision-making reportedly stalled for 24 hours after the initial assault.
The report also claims Ayatollah Khamenei was a target but escaped when moved to a secret location. How Israel gathered such precise intelligence remains unclear. The strike on June 13 marked the start of the conflict, launched by Israel to halt Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons ambitions. Iran denies such intentions. On June 22, the U.S. followed up with strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. President Trump later claimed these sites were “obliterated,” though some U.S. intelligence agencies have expressed caution in their assessments.
