Tehran, Feb 28: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is alive “as far as I know”, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday amid intense speculation following coordinated US-Israeli strikes targeting key political and military sites in the country.
Speaking to NBC News, Araghchi said that Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were safe. “Almost all officials are safe and sound and alive. We may have lost one or two commanders, but that is not a big problem,” he said.
Iran’s Al-Alam TV reported that Khamenei would address the nation soon. However, no official Iranian statement has confirmed the Supreme Leader’s exact whereabouts. A government source told Reuters that Khamenei had been moved to a secure location and was not in Tehran at the time of the strikes.
The United States and Israel carried out coordinated attacks under a campaign named “Operation Epic Fury”, targeting the offices of Khamenei, the Assembly of Experts — the body that selects the Supreme Leader — the residence of President Pezeshkian and the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Seven missiles were reportedly fired towards leadership offices.
Unlike earlier operations focused on deeply buried nuclear facilities, the latest strikes appeared to target Iran’s political leadership directly. A US government source told Reuters that Iranian officials were the main targets in the first wave.
US President Donald Trump described the campaign as an effort to destroy Iran’s military, eliminate its nuclear programme and bring about a change in government. “To the great, proud people of Iran, the hour of your freedom is at hand… When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump said in a video message.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack could “create conditions” for the Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands.
Araghchi strongly condemned the strikes, calling them “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate”. He accused Trump of turning “‘America First’ into ‘Israel First’—which always means ‘America Last.’”
He also alleged that a girls’ primary school in Minab in southern Iran was struck, killing “dozens of innocent children”. Iranian media reported that more than 50 people were killed and dozens injured in the incident.
Warning regional countries against allowing their territories to be used for attacks on Iran, Araghchi said the “origin and source of aggressive operations” would be regarded as legitimate targets. “Our powerful armed forces are prepared for this day and will teach the aggressors the lesson they deserve,” he said.
Framing the conflict in broader terms, Araghchi said the war was “not only against the Iranian nation but against all countries of the region”, urging Muslim nations and regional governments to shoulder a “historic responsibility” to act.
Experts said the selection of targets indicated a possible attempt to weaken or topple the Iranian leadership, even though US and Israeli leaders maintained that the Iranian people must determine their own political future.
