Ayatollah on target? Iran warns of attempts to assassinate supreme leader; plot to destabilise country

Iran’s intelligence ministry has warned of alleged attempts by foreign adversaries - including the United States and Israel - to target country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and destabilise the Islamic Republic.

According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, intelligence minister Esmail Khatib said on Saturday that “the enemy seeks to target the supreme leader, sometimes with assassination attempts, sometimes with hostile attacks,” reported AFP.


While officials in Tehran frequently accuse foreign powers of plotting against the state, such direct statements about threats to Khamenei have been rare before the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.

Khatib also warned that “those who act in this direction, knowingly or unknowingly, are the infiltrating agents of the enemy,” naming Israel and the US directly.

During the conflict earlier this year, Israel carried out strikes on senior Iranian military officials, nuclear scientists, key sites and residential areas, with the US later joining in attacks on nuclear facilities. Reports during the war claimed US President Donald Trump had blocked an Israeli proposal to assassinate Khamenei over escalation concerns. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the report but remarked that such an action would “end the conflict.”

Trump had publicly called Khamenei a “very easy target,” saying, “we are not going to take him out, at least not for now.” He later wrote on Truth Social that he had saved the Iranian leader from “A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH.”

The 86-year-old Khamenei, in power since 1989, retains final authority over all state matters. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian recently said he feared for the supreme leader’s safety during the war, worrying the country’s institutions “would start fighting among each other.”

In July, Khamenei himself alleged that Israeli strikes were aimed at weakening Iran and triggering “unrest and bringing people into the streets to overthrow the system.”

A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24, though both Washington and Tel Aviv have warned of renewed military action if Tehran restarts its nuclear programme.