The attack that killed Iran's supreme leader took place in the context of the US and Israel sharing close intelligence, many well-informed sources said.
Right before the US and Israel prepared to launch an attack on Iran, the CIA focused on the position of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The CIA has been monitoring Mr. Khamenei for months, thus becoming increasingly confident in the position and habits of the Iranian supreme leader.
Later, the CIA learned that senior Iranian officials would have a meeting on February 28 at a leadership complex in central Tehran. Most importantly, the CIA learned that the Supreme Leader would attend this meeting.
The US and Israel decided to adjust the timing of attacks on Iran, partly to take advantage of the new intelligence.
The death of the Iranian supreme leader shows the close coordination and sharing of intelligence between the US and Israel in the preparation phase for the attack, as well as the extensive intelligence that the two countries have collected about Iranian leaders, especially after the 12-day war last year.
According to well-informed sources, the CIA has transferred its intelligence, which is highly accurate about the position of Ayatollah Khamenei, to Israel.
Israel, using US and its own intelligence, carried out an operation that had been planned for months: Assassinating senior Iranian leaders.
The US and Israeli governments, initially intended to attack at night, decided to adjust the time to take advantage of information about the meeting at the government complex in Tehran on the morning of February 28.
Leaders are expected to meet at the locations of the offices of the Iranian president, the Supreme Leader and the Iranian National Security Council.
Israel identified the meeting of officials including senior Iranian defense officials, including Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammad Pakpour; Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh; Admiral Ali Shamkhani - head of the Military Council; Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Air Force Seyyed Majid Mousavi; Deputy Intelligence Minister Mohammad Shirazi and many others.
The Iran airstrike campaign began at around 6 am on February 28, Israel time, when fighter jets took off from the base. The attack only needed relatively few aircraft, but was equipped with long-range and high-precision weapons.
Two hours and 5 minutes after the plane took off, at about 9:40 am on the same day, Tehran time, long-range missiles attacked the complex. At the time of the attack, senior Iranian national security officials were in a building in the complex. Mr. Khamenei was in another building nearby.
The attack on the morning of February 28 was carried out simultaneously at many locations in Tehran, including a location gathering senior figures of Iran's political-security apparatus," an Israeli defense official said.
The US and Israel also collected specific information about the location of key Iranian intelligence officers. In the subsequent attacks after the attack on the leadership complex on February 28, the locations where intelligence leaders were staying were also attacked. Iran's highest-ranking intelligence officer escaped, but the ranks of senior leaders of Iranian intelligence agencies suffered heavy losses.
