Middle East Crisis Iran War

Khamenei nearly killed in attack – survived thanks to walk in garden

Mojtaba Khamenei came very close to being killed in the Israeli and US attacks on Iran on the first day of the war, reports The Telegraph. The newspaper has seen a leaked audio recording in which one of the ayatollah's closest men describes the course of events to religious leaders and senior officers.

The younger Khamenei, who succeeded his late father Ali Khamenei as the country's supreme leader, survived thanks to taking a walk in the garden a few minutes before missiles hit his house.

- He was outside and on his way back when they hit the building with a missile, says the secretary Mazaher Hosseini in the audio recording.

Khamenei's wife and son were killed in the attack. According to Hosseini, the new supreme leader was wounded in the leg.

Projectile reportedly hit near nuclear power plant in Iran

Iranian authorities say a projectile hit near the nuclear power plant in Bushehr last night. Neither the nuclear power plant nor its personnel are reported to have been injured and radiation levels are described as normal, several media outlets report.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been informed and its head Rafael Grossi is urging restraint to avoid a "nuclear accident".

Bushehr is Iran's only functioning nuclear power plant and is operated with Russian help. Neither Iran nor Russia have published any pictures from the incident and there is no independent confirmation of what happened, AP writes.

Experts have previously warned that a radioactive leak from Bushehr, which is located on the Persian Gulf, could have serious consequences far beyond Iran.

Israel says Iran's intelligence chief killed

Israel has killed Iranian minister Esmaeil Khatib, who is responsible for the country's intelligence service, in an overnight strike. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, Haaretz reported.

In a meeting with senior military officials, Katz said that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given the IDF permission to target all Iranian regime leaders.

Khatib is the latest in a series of high-ranking Iranians killed by Israel. On Tuesday, Israel said that both Ali Larijani, head of Iran's National Security Council, and militia commander Gholamreza Soleimani had been killed.