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Israeli strike on meeting of Iran officials injured Pezeshkian - IRGC outlet

Jul 12, 2025, 22:39 GMT+1Updated: 07:51 GMT+0
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (left), President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and Judiciary Chief Mohseni Ejei (right)
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (left), President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf and Judiciary Chief Mohseni Ejei (right)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sustained a leg injury following an Israeli airstrike on a meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in the lower floors of a building in western Tehran on June 16, an IRGC-affiliated outlet reported.

The Revolutionary Guards-linked Fars News Agency said the attacked was launched on the morning of Monday, June 16, while a session of the Supreme National Security Council was underway in the lower floors of the building in western Tehran.

President Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Judiciary chief Mohseni Ejei and other senior officials were attending the meeting, the report said.

Six bombs or missiles targeted the building’s entry and exit points in order to block escape routes and disrupt airflow, Fars News said, adding that the attack was modeled after an operation designed to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

Following the explosions, power to the floor was cut, but the officials managed to escape through an emergency hatch that had been prepared in advance, the report said.

President Pezeshkian and some other officials sustained minor leg injuries while exiting, the outlet said.

Given the accuracy of the information used in the attack, the report said authorities are investigating the possibility of an infiltrator.

While the report did not specify the location of the meeting, the Israeli airstrike is believed to have targeted a building in Tehran’s Shahrak-e Bagheri district on June 16.

A few days ago, senior IRGC general Mohsen Rezaei told the state TV that Israel “struck six points at the location where the Supreme National Security Council was meeting, but not the slightest harm was done to any of its members.”

President Pezeshkian earlier accused Israel of trying to assassinate him. "They did try, yes," he told Tucker Carlson in an interview. "They acted accordingly, but they failed."

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Iranian official posts image that appears to depict a nuclear strike on Israel

Jul 12, 2025, 20:55 GMT+1

An advisor to Iran's parliament speaker has shared an image that seems to show a nuclear attack on Israel.

Mehdi Mohammadi, a strategic adviser to Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, posted the image in an Instagram story on Saturday.

The image showed a map of Israel with two mushroom clouds positioned over its territory—an iconography widely recognized as symbolizing atomic blasts.

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A few hours later, Mohammadi posted a second Instagram story seeking to clarify his position.

“Hello friends,” he wrote. “That story was posted by the admin of my page and was deleted a few minutes later. I personally do not believe that developing nuclear weapons would enhance Iran’s deterrence. At the very least, it’s an extremely complex issue."

"Just as possessing nuclear weapons hasn’t prevented Israel from receiving heavy blows, or enabled Ukraine to strike Russia decisively, the military utility of nuclear arms is far more limited than most people imagine,” he added.

Iran continues to deny any ambition to acquire nuclear weapons, dismissing international concerns as politically driven.

Last month, American airstrikes targeted major Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The attacks came after days of Israeli campaign against Iran where the Jewish State used cruise missiles and deep-penetration bombs to damage infrastructure and affiliated military units.

In October, a group of lawmakers called on Iran's Supreme National Security Council to review the country's defense doctrine and consider adopting nuclear weapons.

Chant first, regret later: the consequences of Iran’s death rhetoric

Jul 12, 2025, 19:44 GMT+1
•
Behrouz Turani

For Iran’s rulers, wishing death upon enemies is mostly rhetoric—rarely acted on, but often carrying real consequences.

“Death to America” has long been a staple: painted on walls, printed on billboards, shouted from pulpits. So too “Death to Israel”, which has grown louder after unrelenting Israeli strikes.

“They bombed a building to kill a commander, and scores of his neighbors were also killed,” one user on X wrote, justifying the chant’s resurgence.

Sometimes, the slogans extend to “Death to England” or France. Germany, despite official anger at its nuclear stance, is spared—not for politics, but for lack of a poetic rhyme in Persian.

At times, the death wishes border on the absurd.

A video once showed an elderly deaf man shouting “David, David Oo-Es-Ah” during a protest in Tehran. Asked what “David” meant, he replied, “David means death!”—a misheard version of “Down with USA.”

In the 1990s, after a man in Denmark burned a Quran, angry crowds in Tehran responded with chants of “Death to Denmark” and torched a popular Danish pastry shop, baffling local shopkeepers.

More recently, a city council member in Rasht called on Israel to assassinate Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. The call was so bizarre it drew public ridicule as well as official anger. The councillor later claimed it was a joke.

But some threats aren’t laughed off.

In Qom, senior clerics have openly called on Muslims to kill US president Donald Trump. Though some in Tehran insist these figures don’t speak for the state, one mid-level cleric placed a millions-dollar bounty on Trump and Netanyahu—remarks aired uncensored on state TV.

The rage may stem from Trump’s mockery of supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s claim of victory in the war with Israel. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even urged US officials to stop Trump from “insulting the Supreme Leader.”

Khamenei’s adviser Ali Larijani and his brother Mohammad Javad—former parliament speaker and human rights chief respectively—have both issued assassination threats against Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron.

President Pezeshkian tried to downplay the chants in an interview with Tucker Carlson, arguing they weren’t aimed at the American people or their leaders. But his response felt tone-deaf, failing to acknowledge how offensive these slogans are.

Some argue that hardliners are deliberately stoking these flames to damage the new government and block diplomacy.

“This conduct could prove costly,” conservative analyst Abbas Salimi Namin warned in an interview with Khabar Online on July 9. “State TV must act responsibly... and avoid giving airtime to radicals and troublemakers,” he added.

The reformist website Rouydad24 echoed that concern the same day.

“Radicals fear the national unity forged during and after the war with Israel,” the outlet said in an editorial. “They oppose dialogue and seek to monopolize power. They will stop at nothing to tarnish the government’s image.”

Putin urges Iran to accept 'zero enrichment' nuclear deal with US - Axios

Jul 12, 2025, 12:18 GMT+1

Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged Iranian officials to accept a nuclear agreement that would ban uranium enrichment, a key US demand in any future talks, Axios reported Saturday citing multiple sources.

Putin conveyed his position to both President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders in recent weeks, encouraging Tehran to move toward a deal that would help restart negotiations with Washington.

“Putin would support zero enrichment,” one European official told Axios. “He encouraged the Iranians to work toward that… The Iranians said they won’t consider it.”

Shortly after publication, Iran’s Tasnim News, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, rejected the Axios report, citing an informed source.

Moscow has long defended Iran’s right to enrich uranium in public, but behind closed doors, Russian officials have taken a tougher stance following the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, according to European and Israeli officials familiar with the talks cited by Axios.

Despite Iran’s military support for Russia in Ukraine, including drones and missiles, Tehran was frustrated with Moscow’s limited support during the war with Israel, Axios reported.

Russian officials have since told Iran that they would be willing to remove its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and supply low-level fuel for civilian use if a deal is reached.

Araghchi says Iran open to nuclear talks, but enrichment non-negotiable

Tehran has insisted it will not accept any agreement that eliminates its ability to enrich uranium.

Iran is open to future talks over its nuclear program but will not accept any deal that excludes uranium enrichment, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday during a meeting with foreign envoys in Tehran.

“We have always been ready to negotiate over our nuclear program and will continue to be,” Araghchi said. “But it is natural that we must ensure any future talks are not turned into war by the US or others.”

“No agreement will be accepted without enrichment,” he added. “If talks happen, the subject will only be the nuclear issue.”

Araghchi ruled out any discussion of Iran’s military capabilities. “Iran’s military and defense power will not be part of any negotiation,” he said.

He said Iran’s nuclear facilities were damaged in recent strikes by the US and Israel, but the bigger blow was to the global non-proliferation regime. “The reality is our facilities were hit, but what was hit harder was the Non-Proliferation Treaty itself.”

He added that cooperation with the IAEA would continue but now be managed through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Axios also reported that plans to hold US-Iran nuclear talks in Oslo have been dropped after both sides cooled on the idea. They are now seeking an alternative venue, according to the sources cited by the report.

Enrichment ban remains key dispute

Meanwhile, Israeli officials continue to warn against any Iranian enrichment. Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said this week that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei must abandon nuclear ambitions or face further military action.

“The strikes in June exposed your system and dismantled your capabilities,” Gallant wrote in a public letter.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also dismissed future diplomacy unless Iran ends all enrichment and missile development.

Khamenei’s former representative Ali Taeb dies, state media says

Jul 12, 2025, 00:57 GMT+1

Ali Taeb, a former representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader in the command center responsible for suppressing protests, has died, Iranian state media reported without providing any further explanation.

Taeb was Ali Khamenei’s representative at Sarallah Headquarters, one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most critical domestic security commands—and a target of Israeli strikes during the recent conflict.

Ali Taeb’s brothers—Hossein Taeb and Mehdi Taeb—are two of the most influential operatives in the Islamic Republic establishment.

Hossein served as the long-time head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization (IRGC-IO), directly under the control of the Supreme Leader. Known for his ruthlessness, clerical ties, and proximity to Mojtaba Khamenei, Hossein was widely viewed as one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic—until his ousting in 2022.

Ali Taeb’s role at Sarallah Headquarters placed him at the heart of Tehran’s security response to unrest and foreign threats. That position—and his familial ties to Hossein and Mehdi Taeb—make his sudden death significant.

According to Iranian state media, Ali Taeb was a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War and a deeply embedded cleric in the Islamic Republic’s ideological apparatus.

Though he originally studied mechanical engineering at Iran University of Science and Technology, he was reportedly persuaded by leading clerics such as Ayatollah Bahjat and Allameh Tabatabaei to enter the seminary. Early in his religious studies, he operated under an alias while evading the Shah’s intelligence services.

He later rose through the ranks of the IRGC, serving as deputy head of propaganda during the war, commander of the Ramadan Base, and head of the Motahari University in Qom.

He held multiple top roles including advisor to the Joint Chiefs of the IRGC, president of the Foundation for Martyrs and Veterans in Qom, and director of Al-Mustafa International University.

He was also a member of the board of trustees at the Noor Computer Research Center and ran the Ghadir Information Center.

Khamenei bested Trump in war, his senior advisor says

Jul 11, 2025, 22:50 GMT+1

A senior advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader said that Ali Khamenei triumphed over US President Donald Trump in a 12-day Israel-Iran war capped by US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, as officialdom doubles down on a victory narrative.

"Under the wise leadership of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, we silenced Trump," Ali Larijani, the former Speaker of the Iranian Parliament and current advisor to Khamenei, said on Friday.

Larijani made his remarks during a memorial event for Saeid Izadi, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander killed in an Israeli airstrike in Qom on June 21.

Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said on the same day that Izadi had coordinated financial and weapons transfers to Hamas ahead of the October 7, 2023, attacks.

The surprise 12-day campaign killed military commanders along with hundreds of civilians and pounded military and nuclear sites. Iranian missiles killed 27 Israelis.

Tehran officialdom swiftly declared the conflict a victory, in a narrative which jarred many war-weary Iranians.

Donald Trump said on June 27th he personally stopped a final, massive Israeli airstrike on Tehran and had previously alleged the United States was aware of Khamenei's wartime hiding place but had held off killing him.

Larijani condemned Israel’s assassination of Revolutionary Guard commanders inside Iran and said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not understand Iran's culture or people.

In response to comments by Benjamin Netanyahu promoting the joint US-Israel doctrine of "peace through strength," Larijani said: "You made so much noise claiming Hamas and Hezbollah have been eliminated, but Hamas is still alive and continues to carry out operations."