Iran says senior leadership 'in perfect health' after US-Israeli strikes

TEHRAN: Senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and security chief Ali Larijani, are “in perfect health," the semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Saturday.

The report dismissed Israeli claims that senior Iranian leaders had been successfully targeted in recent strikes. “While Israeli sources have claimed to have targeted and succeeded in attacking the president and senior Iranian leaders, official sources within the country report that senior regime officials, including the heads of the armed forces, are in perfect health,” it said.

According to Reuters, the first wave of US and Israeli strikes—in what the Pentagon named ‘Operation Epic Fury’—primarily targeted Iranian officials, citing a source familiar with the matter.

An Israeli official was quoted as saying that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Pezeshkian were both targeted, although the outcome of the strikes was unclear. A source earlier told Reuters that Khamenei was not in Tehran at the time and had been moved to a secure location.

Reuters also cited an Iranian source close to the establishment as saying that several senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and political figures had been killed in the attacks.

The joint US-Israeli strikes earlier in the day pushed the Middle East into renewed military confrontation and further dimmed hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in the long-running standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear weapons.

In response to the strikes, Iran launched attacks targeting Israel and US bases in the region. Explosions were reported in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, raising fears of a broader regional escalation.