New details have emerged regarding the unprecedented intelligence operation that led to the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to a breaking CNN report, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israeli intelligence services spent months secretly monitoring the leader’s exact movements before executing a flawless daytime decapitation strike.
The Intelligence Dragnet
For months leading up to the war, allied intelligence agencies maintained a tight, invisible grip on Iran’s highest echelon.
* Comprehensive Surveillance: Sources familiar with the matter revealed that sophisticated tracking systems monitored Khamenei’s daily routines. This included tracking his residences, his communication methods, his meeting schedules, and his designated emergency bunkers.
* The Rare Gathering: The critical breakthrough occurred when intelligence uncovered plans for a highly unusual Saturday morning meeting. Khamenei and the upper crust of Iran’s political and military leadership—who rarely gather in a single location—were scheduled to convene at a central Tehran compound housing the Supreme Leader’s offices, the presidency, and the National Security Service.
A Fatal Daylight Miscalculation
Known for his extreme paranoia and excessive caution, Khamenei reportedly felt a false sense of security during daylight hours, lowering his usual guard.
* The Pivot to Dawn: Capitalizing on this rare vulnerability, U.S. and Israeli planners hastily altered their attack blueprint. A mission originally designed as a nighttime raid was shifted to broad daylight.
* “Operation Visiting Assad”: At approximately 6:00 a.m. Israel time, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir greenlit the strike. In a message to the Israeli Air Force pilots, Zamir wrote: “At dawn on Saturday, Operation Visiting Assad begins. You have permission to hit your targets. We make history. I trust you. Good luck to all of us.”
Simultaneous Decapitation
Equipped with high-precision, long-range munitions, Israeli warplanes simultaneously struck three separate meeting sites within the Tehran compound.
The daytime bombardment achieved total operational success. Alongside Khamenei, Israeli intelligence confirmed the elimination of several irreplaceable military figures:
* Aziz Nasserzadeh: Minister of Defense.
* Admiral Ali Shamkhani: Chairman of the Military Council.
* Muhammad Bakpour: Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
* Mohamed Shirazi: Deputy Minister of Intelligence.
* Sayyed Majed Mousavi: Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force.
Hours after the dust settled, President Donald Trump confirmed the kill on social media, stating that Khamenei “couldn’t escape our highly sophisticated intelligence and tracking systems, and in close cooperation with Israel, he or the other commanders killed with him, couldn’t do anything.”
While Israeli defense officials previously admitted during the “12-day war” last June that they lacked the operational window to target Khamenei, this weekend’s strike demonstrates exactly how deeply allied intelligence has penetrated the Islamic Republic over the past several months.
