How CIA intel helped target Khamenei

Here’s how US intelligence helped Israel pinpoint Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s location and time the attack.

Transcript

00:04In one of the most closely coordinated intelligence operations in recent history,

00:09the United States and Israel tracked Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for months,

00:14waiting for the right moment to strike. According to a detailed investigation by the New York Times,

00:19CIA intelligence played a key role in identifying Khamenei's location and movements,

00:24helping Israel time a precision strike on his heavily guarded compound.

00:27As per the report, for months US intelligence agency closely monitored Khamenei's daily routines,

00:33travel patterns and security arrangements. The goal was to identify a window when he would be both

00:39visible and vulnerable, something that rarely happens given the extreme secrecy surrounding

00:44Iran's top leader. That breakthrough came when US intelligence learnt of a closed-door high-level

00:49meeting scheduled inside a leadership compound in central Tehran. According to US and Israeli

00:55officials cited by the New York Times, the meeting was expected to bring together Iran's most powerful

01:00decision-makers, including senior military commanders, top Revolutionary Guard officials,

01:05intelligence chiefs and key political figures. Crucially, Ayatollah Khamenei himself was expected

01:10to attend. This kind of gathering is extremely rare. Once the CIA confirmed Khamenei's presence,

01:16Israel accelerated its strike planning, adjusted their timing and targeted hitting the compound

01:21during the meeting. US officials described the intelligence as high confidence and time-sensitive,

01:27leaving a narrow window to act. On the morning of 20 February, Israeli fighter jets launched toward

01:32Tehran. At approximately 9.40 a.m. local time, precision-guided missiles struck the compound.

01:37Multiple buildings were destroyed, several senior Iranian officials were killed. And among them

01:42was Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The strike marked a dramatic escalation in the long-running

01:49shadow conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States. The killing of Iran's top leader represents

01:54one of the most consequential targeted strikes in modern Middle Eastern history. It reshapes power

02:00dynamics inside Iran, it sharply raises the risk of retaliation across the region and it pushes an

02:05orderly 10 standoff closer to a wider conflict.

02:09Law

02:10Law

02:11Law

02:12Law