New particulars from Iran’s high diplomat in regards to the strike that killed Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei present among the clearest proof but of the precision and technique behind the joint U.S.-Israeli operation that launched Operation Epic Fury, counterterrorism consultants stated Sunday.
The account, revealed by Iranian Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi in a brand new tv interview, additionally highlights what analysts describe as a defining characteristic of President Donald Trump’s nationwide safety doctrine: utilizing a decapitation strike in opposition to a hostile regime whereas concurrently creating an off-ramp to finish the battle.
“Nicely, the constructing we have been sitting in was focused, however the wing we have been in remained intact whereas the opposite wing of the constructing was destroyed,” Araghchi stated in an interview that aired June 4 on the Lebanon-based, Hezbollah-backed Al Mayadeen tv community.
Whereas Araghchi survived the Feb. 28 strike as a result of he was in a distinct wing of Khamenei’s compound when the assault occurred, he went on to element how Khamenei was in his workplace and the way others survived.
Earlier than-and-after Satellite tv for pc Imagery Affords A Uncommon Look At Harm Inside Iran
Iranian Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives on the authorities palace to satisfy Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Beirut on Jan. 9, 2026.
(Getty Photos)
Reviewing the unique phase, counterterrorism knowledgeable Dr. Omar Mohammed informed Fox Information Digital that Araghchi’s account confirms the operation focused a selected part of the complicated relatively than flattening your entire web site.
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“Within the Arabic model, Araghchi says he was in a distinct wing of the compound, briefing one other official, and his wing survived whereas the chief’s workplace was destroyed,” Mohammed defined.
Araghchi additionally informed the interviewer that he had an appointment that day with an official on the compound concerning the Geneva negotiations and that, based mostly on the same old workflow, Khamenei “needed to be current in his workplace.”
Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Analysis Initiative on the Program on Extremism at George Washington College, added that if Araghchi’s account is correct, this was Iran’s obtrusive acknowledgment of U.S. strategic capabilities.
“They didn’t flatten a constructing; they took one wing and left the one subsequent to it standing. That’s President Trump’s complete doctrine in a single strike — he doesn’t desire a conflict of occupation, he needs to point out the USA can attain the middle of a hostile regime with precision after which supply it a manner out,” Mohammed stated.
Dozens Of High Iranian Regime Officers, Supreme Chief Killed In Israeli Strikes
Iranian Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a state tv broadcast in Tehran on June 18, 2025.
The daylight strike on elder Khamenei’s compound was carried out by Israeli jets focusing on the positioning with 30 precision munitions alongside Sparrow air-launched ballistic missiles.
Navy officers confirmed {that a} exact strike sequence killed Khamenei, 86, alongside Protection Minister Amir Nasirzadeh, IRGC Commander Mohammed Pakpour and a number of high safety leaders.
Trump confirmed U.S. involvement in Khamenei’s killing in a submit on social media on the time.
“He was unable to keep away from our intelligence and extremely subtle monitoring methods, and, working carefully with Israel, there was not a factor he or the opposite leaders killed alongside him might do,” the president wrote.
“Iran was handed the clearest message an adversary can get — we are able to attain your chief in his personal workplace, and right here is the off-ramp,” Mohammed famous. “A rational state takes the exit. Tehran did the other. It fired on Israel, killed a civilian in Bahrain, struck Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and closed the Strait of Hormuz, setting off a worldwide vitality disaster. The surgical strike was American. The months-long conflict that adopted was Iran’s alternative.”
Following the management transition, Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, turned Iran’s new supreme chief.
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On this image obtained from Iran’s ISNA information company, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks alongside a road in Tehran on Might 31, 2019.
He has since been concerned in back-channel discussions with the U.S. whereas sustaining a confrontational public stance.
“In Arabic, Araghchi calls the brand new chief ‘the younger Khamenei rather than the aged Khamenei.’ That’s the language of a monarchy, not a republic of clerics,” Mohammed noticed. “They’re rewriting the theology on air to suit a son who lacks the spiritual rank, who was wounded in the identical strike and who then vanished for weeks. A revolution that got here to energy by ending a monarchy is handing the throne from father to son.”
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“The actual story shouldn’t be that Iran is powerful,” Mohammed continued. “It was proven the precision of American energy and the door was held open, and it selected to widen the conflict as a substitute.”
Authentic article supply: Iran admits extraordinary new element in Khamenei strike, Trump provided ‘manner out’: knowledgeable