A satellite image of a residential complex of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, February 1, 2026. | Photo credit: VANTOR
The eventual barrage of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran came so quickly that they occurred almost simultaneously — with three attacks on three locations in one minute — killing Khamenei and some 40 senior figures, including the head of the Revolutionary Guards and the country’s defense minister, Israeli military officials said Sunday.
The official insisted on anonymity to describe the attack more fully, but said a variety of factors created a golden opportunity to take out much of Iran’s leadership, including weeks of training and monitoring the movements of senior figures and intelligence in real time before the attack began so key targets were gathered.
Attacking during the day also added an additional element of surprise, the official said, saying that so many large, rapid attacks were crucial to prevent key officials from fleeing after the initial attack. The official said Israel was working closely with its US counterparts and had used similar tactics at the start of last June’s war – which resulted in the assassination of several senior Iranian figures.
The official also noted that Khamenei had posted defiant tweets taunting President Donald Trump in the days before the attack.
The details of the strikes came as the conflict entered its second day, with Trump saying in a video message on Sunday that he expected it to continue until “all of our objectives have been achieved.” He did not make it clear what those objectives were.
The Republican president also said the U.S. military and its partners hit hundreds of targets in Iran, including Revolutionary Guard paramilitary facilities, Iranian air defense systems and nine warships, “all in literally minutes.”
The CIA had long tracked top Iranian leaders
Before the attacks, the CIA had spent months tracking the movements of senior Iranian leaders, including the country’s supreme leader.
The intelligence was shared with Israeli officials and the timing of the attacks was adjusted in part because of that information about the location of Iranian leaders, said the person, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The intelligence sharing between the US and Israel reflects the preparation behind the attacks, which continued for a second day on Sunday after Khamenei’s killing threw the Islamic Republic’s future into uncertainty and raised the risk of an escalating regional conflict.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that tracking the movements of the supreme leader and the heads of other hostile nations “is clearly one of the highest priorities of our intelligence community.” The US regularly shares intelligence with allies, including Israel. These partnerships, and the accuracy of the intelligence they provide, are often critical not only to the success of a military operation, but also to public support for it.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the committee, told The Associated Press that, historically, “our working relationship with Mossad and Israel has been very strong.” Mossad is the Israeli spy agency.
Warner said he has serious concerns about the justification for the strikes, Trump’s long-term plans for the conflict and the risks U.S. service members will face. The military announced that three U.S. troops had been killed in the Iran operation.
“There will be no tears shed over their leadership being eliminated, but the question is always: OK, what now?” Warner said.
Iran has indicated it is open to talks with the US
A senior White House official said Iran’s “new potential leadership” has suggested it is open to talks with the United States. That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal administration’s deliberations, said Trump has indicated he is willing to talk “eventually” but that the military operation “continues unabated” for now. The official did not say who the potential new Iranian leaders are or how they announced their alleged willingness to talk. Separately, Trump told The Atlantic that he planned to speak to Iran’s new leadership.
“They want to talk, and I agreed to talk, so I will talk to them,” he said Sunday, without commenting on the timing.
The possible future diplomatic opening comes as details emerged about the detailed planning behind the US-Israeli strikes and some of the targets hit in Iran.
U.S. Central Command said B-2 stealth bombers hit Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. That mirrors the approach the military took in June, when Trump agreed to use B-2 bombers to strike three key Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump said during his State of the Union address last week that Iran had built ballistic missiles that could reach the American homeland — a justification he repeated again on Saturday when he announced that the bombing of Iran was underway.
Iran has not acknowledged that it is building or attempting to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. However, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said in an unclassified report last year that Iran could develop a militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile by 2035 “should Tehran decide to pursue this capability.”
Published on March 2, 2026
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