Iranian President Reveals Hostile Country's Attempts to Kill Him During Meeting

Iran's president told Tucker Carlson that Israel tried to kill him by shelling the area where he was holding a meeting.

“Yes, they tried. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Masoud Pezeshkian told American journalist Tucker Carlson when asked if he believed Israel had tried to kill him. The conversation with Carlson, conducted through an interpreter and published on Monday, was one of the first interviews the Iranian president has given to Western media since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last month.

"It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was at a meeting... They tried to shell the area where we were having this meeting," Pezeschkian said, without specifying whether the alleged attempt took place during the recent war.

As The Guardian recalls, Donald Trump has already claimed to have thwarted an Israeli attempt to assassinate 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been in hiding for nearly three weeks. He attended a religious ceremony in Tehran over the weekend, which was greeted with elation and relief by government supporters. He has previously appeared on video three times, looking pale, if defiant.

An attempt to assassinate Pezeschkian, elected last summer, would be a qualitatively different move by Israel, and would highlight how keen it is not just to weaken Iran’s military leadership and nuclear cadre, but also to destroy its political leadership, the Guardian points out. Trump at times spoke in favour of regime change during the 12-day war, but appeared to backtrack as the campaign continued. He is now talking about a permanent deal with Tehran, but the details of what the US is prepared to offer Iran have not been revealed.

Israel says it killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 leading nuclear scientists in a major blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions during the 12-day war. Israel says it worked with the United States to destroy three of Iran's main nuclear sites.

Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have shown little restraint in public appearances, attending funerals in Iran, and traveling abroad. Pezeshkian attended a summit in Azerbaijan, while Araqchi traveled to Brazil, Egypt, and Moscow.

Iranian President Pezeshkian also told Carlson: “We did not start this war and we do not want it to continue in any way.” He insisted that his campaign slogan was to create internal national unity and strengthen friendship with Iran’s neighbors.

In an interview with Carlson, Pezeschkian said his country had “no problem” with resuming nuclear talks, provided that trust could be restored with the United States: “We see no problem in resuming negotiations. There is a condition for resuming negotiations. How can we trust the United States again? We resumed negotiations, then how can we be sure that in the middle of negotiations the Israeli regime will not be given permission to attack us again?”

He denied that Iran was involved in the campaign to assassinate Trump.

Asked whether the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be allowed back into Iran, Pezeshkian said: “We still don’t know the extent of the damage to the nuclear facilities. Access is currently not possible because they have been severely damaged. Once access is restored, we can consider conducting inspections. The IAEA’s silence in the face of these attacks, which are contrary to international law, has sowed mistrust among Iranians.”