Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused Israel of attempting to assassinate him during a high-profile interview with American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
"They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed," Pezeshkian stated when directly questioned by Carlson about whether he believed Israel had made an attempt on his life.
The Iranian leader did not specify when the alleged assassination attempt occurred, nor did he confirm if it was connected to Israel's recent 12-day aerial offensive against Iran last month, which heightened tensions between the two regional adversaries.
When pressed on how he was certain of Israel's involvement, Pezeshkian responded: "Of course, it was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel."
According to the Persian-to-English translation provided during the interview, Pezeshkian claimed that attackers had targeted a meeting location based on insider intelligence.
"I was in a meeting, but thanks to the intelligence by the spies that they had, they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting," he added, without providing further details about the outcome or any casualties.
Nuclear Negotiations Stance
In the same interview, Pezeshkian adopted a more conciliatory tone regarding Iran's nuclear position, expressing openness to diplomatic engagement, albeit with conditions.
"We see no problem in reentering the negotiations," he said, referring to nuclear talks with the United States and other global powers. "There is a condition for restarting the talks. How are we going to trust the United States again?"
"We reentered 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.
These remarks highlight Iran's continued skepticism about Western intentions, particularly regarding what Tehran has long contended is Israel's disproportionate influence on US foreign policy in the Middle East.
The explosive allegations come amid escalating geopolitical uncertainty and follow a series of covert operations and direct military engagements between Iran and Israel over the past year.
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