The assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the new war launched by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic was the result of years of intelligence preparation. According to the Financial Times, citing sources within security services, Israeli intelligence had access for years to Tehran’s road surveillance camera system, allowing it to observe the daily life and movements of Iran’s elite in real time.
According to the newspaper’s sources, Israeli intelligence managed to hack a significant portion of the cameras monitoring traffic in the Iranian capital. The images were transmitted in encrypted form to servers in Israel. Analysts were therefore able to track the movements of vehicles used by bodyguards and drivers of senior Iranian officials. One key camera was located near a place where cars used by the country’s leadership were regularly parked. Such observation points gradually allowed intelligence analysts to build a detailed picture of how Iran’s security services operated.
Over time, Israeli intelligence compiled detailed dossiers on security personnel and drivers serving high-ranking officials. Analysts were able to determine where they lived, which routes they used, their work schedules, and which vehicles they accompanied. Most importantly, they were able to identify exactly which individuals they were transporting and protecting. As a result, Israeli intelligence eventually obtained an almost complete picture of the daily routines of Iran’s political and security elite. “We knew Tehran as well as Jerusalem,” one intelligence official told the Financial Times.
This information played a crucial role in preparing the operation targeting Iran’s leadership. According to the newspaper’s sources, the final decision to launch the strikes was made after U.S. and Israeli intelligence confirmed that Ali Khamenei would meet several senior officials at his residence in Tehran on the morning of February 28. This information was obtained in part through the analysis of surveillance camera data. It was also confirmed to U.S. officials by an informant inside Iran, the Financial Times sources said.
U.S. President Donald Trump gave the order to begin the bombing while aboard Air Force One en route to Texas. American forces prepared the conditions for the Israeli strike: according to the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, the United States conducted a large-scale cyber operation that “disrupted, weakened, and blinded” Iran’s defense systems. At the same time, Israel disabled dozens of mobile phone towers around Tehran, preventing Khamenei’s security team from receiving a timely warning of the approaching attack.
According to Financial Times sources, the decision to eliminate Khamenei and several other senior figures of the Iranian regime on the very first day of the war was driven by fears that, once the bombing began, they would retreat into heavily protected underground bunkers. Israeli aircraft dropped up to thirty bombs on the Supreme Leader’s residence. The strike proved fatal: Ali Khamenei was killed along with several members of his family.
Iranian authorities officially confirmed the death of the Supreme Leader. Following his death, power in the country was temporarily transferred to a three-member transitional council. It includes President Massoud Pezeshkian, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, and Guardian Council member Ayatollah Alireza Arafi.
