A senior Iranian lawmaker on Monday suggested Iran might use its military to seal the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway as tensions continue over stalled nuclear talks following a 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States.
Esmail Kowsari told Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen TV that no decision on closing the Strait had been made but military preparations to do so were ready.
“Military measures concerning the Strait of Hormuz have been completed, but no decision has yet been made regarding its (closure) and the matter is still under review,” said Kowsari, a member of the parliament's national security committee.
The Strait of Hormuz is a waterway bordered by Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. Around a fifth of global oil and gas shipments pass through the strategic chokepoint, which was a site of conflict in the Iran-Iraq in the 1980s but was spared in the Mideast combat last month.
Tehran, Kowsari added, has not walked away from negotiations but US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites violated Iran's sovereignty and hurt diplomatic efforts.
Conditions for resuming talks do not currently exist, Kowsari said.
Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to close the strait as tensions with Israel and the United States have flared in recent years.
Last month, Kowsari told state media that the Iranian parliament had approved a measure to close it but that the measure was not binding, and the final decision rests with Iran’s top decision-making body, the Supreme National Security Council.
A closure would likely upend global energy markets and risk triggering broader conflict.
IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported on Saturday that a meeting of the SNSC was held on Monday morning, June 16 in one of the underground floors of a building in western Tehran.
According to the report, the meeting—attended by the heads of Iran’s three branches of power—was hit by six bombs or missiles, and President Masoud Pezeshkian and some other officials sustained minor leg injuries when trying to flee.
In response to Iran International’s inquiry on Sunday, the Israeli military declined to comment on the Fars report. Nevertheless, several aspects of the report can be subjected to fact-checking.
Time and location of the strike
Iran International reviewed reports of explosions in the capital on June 16 but found no evidence of six consecutive blasts occurring in Tehran that morning.
However, there is substantial evidence indicating that the alleged attack took place on Monday afternoon.
On June 24, Vahid Jalili, deputy head of Iran’s state broadcaster, said: “Last Monday [June 16], an hour before the strike on the IRIB, they [Israelis] hit the meeting of the heads of branches. Miraculously, they survived.”
The strike on IRIB’s glass building occurred at 6:34 PM Tehran time on June 16.
Assuming Fars may have misreported or misstated the time of the incident, Iran International investigated other explosions in western Tehran later that day.
Numerous video reports confirm that a site in Shahid Bagheri Town in western Tehran was hit by multiple missiles in the afternoon and evening of June 16. Iran International published two videos that same day showing the blasts in the area.
Additional footage posted on social media shows the explosions from various angles.
One social media user posted a photo on June 16, writing: “At 16:45, they hit the mountains next to Bagheri Town with at least seven bombs.”
While the area’s topography and lack of satellite imagery make it difficult to pinpoint the exact missile impact sites, Iran International’s analysis indicates the location was likely within the grounds of Dokooheh Hall, an IRGC facility located in the Chitgar area north of Bagheri Town.
Who was the target?
Meetings of the heads of the three branches—executive, judiciary, and legislative—are typically attended by the president, judiciary chief, and parliament speaker. These sessions are usually hosted by one of the three bodies, most often the president’s office, but sometimes by parliament or the judiciary.
Such meetings are usually held to coordinate on routine national matters and may also include ministers or senior security officials. Given the wartime context at the time, holding such a meeting does not appear particularly urgent or critical.
In contrast, meetings of the Supreme National Security Council are broader in scope.
In addition to the three heads of the branches, they include seven other official members: the foreign minister, intelligence minister, interior minister, head of the budget organization, chief of staff of the armed forces, army commander, and IRGC commander. Two representatives of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—Saeed Jalili and Ali Akbar Ahmadian—also attend.
On June 28, Khamenei's advisor Ali Larijani first revealed there had been an operation targeting the Supreme National Security Council on June 16.
“They had discovered the meeting of the heads of branches and wanted to eliminate them through bombing, but they failed,” Larijani said. “The plan was to wipe out the country’s leadership and then move on to the Supreme Leader and dismantle the Islamic Republic.”
Former IRGC chief-commander Mohsen Rezaei made similar remarks in a television interview on July 9, saying: “They couldn’t hit the Supreme Leader. They bombed the Security Council's meeting—six points of the location were struck, but not a single member was harmed.”
Was Pezeshkian the intended target?
Without access to classified information, such claims remain speculative. However, the Israeli news outlet Ynet, citing Danny Citrinowicz—a researcher and former head of the Iran desk at Israeli military intelligence—wrote that Pezeshkian is considered a reformist and was unlikely to have been the primary target.
Citrinowicz said that Pezeshkian currently chairs the Supreme National Security Council, and since the council can significantly influence Iran’s national security decisions, the meeting itself may have been the intended target.
One day after the strike, Iran International obtained information showing that in an unprecedented move, Ali Khamenei had delegated a substantial portion of his authority to the Supreme Guard Council.
What did Netanyahu and Trump say on June 16?
At approximately 7:00 PM Tehran time on June 16, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News that targeting Khamenei was not off the table. He emphasized that such an action “would not escalate the conflict but end it.”
Asked directly whether Israel would strike Khamenei, Netanyahu said: “We will do whatever is necessary.”
Donald Trump, who was attending the G7 summit in Canada, left the event unexpectedly a day early on June 16.
Politico reported the same day that Trump abruptly left the G7 summit after expressing concern about escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. At the time, French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump had left to work on a ceasefire plan between Israel and Iran.
On Tuesday, June 17, Trump rejected that claim on Truth Social, writing: “Wrong!” he wrote. “He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that.”
Iran probing insider role
Iran has launched a wide-ranging investigation into Israel’s attempted assassination of President Masoud Pezeshkian, with suspicions of an inside agent, Al Jazeera reported on July 13, citing an unnamed senior Iranian official.
“The assassination attempt on President Pezeshkian will not go unanswered — Israel will pay the price,” the official was quoted as saying.
“Israel deliberately targeted the Iranian president during an important National Security Council meeting during the war,” the official added.
In addition to the president, the official said the operation targeted “the heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial authorities,” describing it as part of “an Israeli plan aimed at overthrowing the regime in the country.”