Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian speaking at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Tehran, June 3, 2025

Iran’s Supreme Leader Reappears After Israel’s War

UPDATE, 0840 GMT:

Detained opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has called for a constitutional referendum, saying the current system does not represent all Iranians.

Mousavi was the likely leader of the first-round vote in Iran’s 2009 Presidential election, but security forces and the Supreme Leader intervened to ensure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Amid mass protests against the regime, Mousavi and his wife, academic and artist Zahra Rahnavard, were placed under strict house arrest in February 2011.

Mousavi said in his message, “The bitter situation that befell the country was the result of a series of major mistakes.” He said Israel’s 12-day war showed that “respect for the right of all citizens to determine their destiny” is the only guarantee for the country’s salvation.

Holding a referendum to establish a constitutional assembly will pave the way for realizing people’s right to self-determination and will discourage enemies of this land from interfering in the country’s affairs.

The current structure of the system does not represent all Iranians. People want to see a revision of those errors.

The Green Movement leader called for the release of political prisoners and “clear changes in national media approaches”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Israel almost assassinated Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian during its 12-day war on Tehran last month, according to an outlet of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The Fars News Agency said Pezeshkian was injured in the leg, escaping an airstrike on a meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in western Tehran on June 16.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf and Judiciary head Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje’i were also in attendance.

Pezeshkian referred to the attempted assassination in an interview with the American polemicist Tucker Carlson earlier this month:

They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed.

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.

Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of the National Security Council, told State media of the bombing, adding that none of the members were injured.

The attack was on the fourth day of Israel’s war from June 13 to June 25. The Israelis had already killed most of Iran’s top commanders and nuclear scientists and had seriously wounded Adm. Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to the Supreme Leader.

Six bombs or missiles hit the access and entry points of the building, to cut off air and to prevent those inside from leaving.

Though power was lost, the leaders managed to escape via an emergency hatch. Pezeshkian and some others suffered injuries to their legs as they escaped.