Top Iran diplomat says intel breach that allowed Israel to kill Khamenei ‘probably still exists’; he’s never met Mojtaba

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that an intelligence breach that allowed Israel to assassinate Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has likely not been patched.

In a Persian-language interview, Araghchi says that he told President Masoud Pezeshkian on the morning of February 28 that “the atmosphere is war.” He says that he then met with Khamenei aide Ali Asghar Mir Hijazi at 9 a.m., shortly after which Israel carried out the deadly attack on a Tehran compound where Khamenei was having a high-level meeting.

Khamenei was killed in the opening salvo of the campaign, during which 40 other senior commanders were assassinated as well.

Araghchi says at the time of the strike, Khamenei was in his office, the advisory Strategic Council for Foreign Relations was holding its weekly meeting, and the Defense Council had also convened.

“Holding simultaneous meetings was not unusual in those days,” says Araghchi, “but the enemy’s knowledge of these meetings was the result of an information breach that probably still exists.”

Araghchi also says that he has yet to meet with new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in person. “Only a handful of people have met him,” he says.