New Delhi: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated on 28th February in a joint US-Israel military operation that used Israeli intelligence’s mobile phone tapping, complex algorithms, and a barrage of 30 precision munitions.
According to a senior military official in Israel, the strike was conducted within 60 seconds, during which 40 senior Iranian officers were eliminated, according to The Guardian.The preparation took decades of intelligence gathering by Israeli intelligence, with additional resources and manpower provided by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which resulted in the killing of the 86-year-old leader.
One of the Israeli intelligence officers described the collected data as if they knew Tehran like their own streets. On the morning of the attack, Israel disrupted mobile phone towers near the complex, which marked Khamenei’s mobile phone device as busy, to receive any urgent warning.
For this operation, Israeli intelligence Mossad hacked all the traffic cameras in Tehran for years. One camera was specifically important as it provided direct visuals in Israel, according to one of the Israeli officials, to Financial Times.
This allowed the intelligence officers to build a meticulous ‘pattern of life’ for Tehran’s elite. With the complex algorithm and data stream, the intelligence officers were able to gather all the sensitive details about Khamenei, including home addresses, daily routine, and the specific routes through which he travelled.
The surveillance even revealed the supreme leader’s regular habits, such as where the guards preferred to park his personal car, and the inner workings of the residential complex.
The technology network was supplemented by Unit 8200, an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for clandestine operations and collecting signal intelligence. The unit utilised billions of data points to sift through the target.
In the process of identifying unlikely centers of decision-making gravity, Israeli intelligence was able to pinpoint fresh targets for surveillance and elimination.
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The decision to kill
The final decision to eliminate Khamenei was one of the most pivotal decisions ever made by the political leadership in Israel. Historically, Tel Aviv has focused on sabotaging nuclear programmes, killing scientists, and countering proxies.
It was after the 7 October cross-border attacks, which changed Israel’s stance that the heads of enemy states were off-limits during wartime. After this decision, Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
The appetite for high-stakes intelligence attacks further grew when Israel decided to blow up the booby trap on Hezbollah through the pager attack in 2024, which was named Operation Grim Beeper.
According to the official involved in the execution of Khamenei’s assassination, told Financial Times, the attack was planned for months, but officials adjusted their operation after the US and Israeli intelligence confirmed that Khamenei and his senior officials would be meeting in his compound in Tehran on Saturday morning.
While negotiations were underway between Tehran and Washington regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, which were mediated by Oman. But the US president was dissatisfied with the Iranian response, which paved the way for the joint strike.
Both CIA and Mossad were able to confirm the presence of Khamenei in the compound. This was further confirmed by Washington’s human source. Therefore, the attack was initiated on Saturday (28 February).
The final blow
Once the presence of Khamenei was confirmed, Israeli jets, which were airborne for hours, targeted the supreme leader’s compound with 30 precision munitions.
Among these were variants of the Sparrow missile, capable of hitting a target as small as a dining table from over 1,000 km away. Daytime was deliberately chosen to preserve the element of surprise for the prepared Iranian defenses.
While Khamenei had previously dismissed his life as inconsequential and expected martyrdom, he typically stayed in one of two underground bunkers during wartime.
However, on Saturday, he was unusually out of hiding, which created a window of opportunity for the Israeli air force to strike. The end result left a large smoke plume visible across Tehran, marking the end of Khamenei’s 36 years of rule.
Khamenei was killed alongside his daughter, son-in-law, grandchild, and daughter-in-law. His wife Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, who was severely injured during the bombing, later died 2 March.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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