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Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian claims Israel attempted to assassinate him: ‘Yes, they tried, but…’
Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian said that he was in a meeting at the time of the Israeli targeted strike. The revelation was made during an interview on Monday
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Israel tried to assassinate him in a bomb blast during the 12-day war with Iran.
Pezeshkian said he was in a meeting at the time of the Israeli targeted strike, adding that the assassination attempt failed.
The revelation was made during the President's interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson on Monday.
"They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed," Pezeshkian said in the interview in response to a question on whether Israel tried to kill him.
"It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was in a meeting... they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting," Masoud Pezeshkian said.
The conflict between Israel and Iran began on June 13 when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
The Israeli attacks came days before Tehran and Washington were set to meet for a new round of nuclear talks, which began on April 12.
More than 900 people were killed in Iran during the conflict, according to the country's judiciary.
The Israeli attacks drew waves of retaliatory drone and missile fire, killing 28 people in Israel.
The United States also launched a surprise attack on Iran, targeting the nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
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Iranian President Pezeshkian said his country has "no problem" restarting nuclear talks, provided that trust can be reestablished between the two countries.
"We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations," Pezeshkian said.
"There is a condition ... for restarting the talks. How are we going to trust the United States again? We re-entered the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us," he added.
