Iranian president claims Israel tried to assassinate him during Tucker Carlson interview

The president of Iran claimed that Israel attempted to assassinate him in an airstrike targeting a high-profile meeting, according to his interview with Tucker Carlson.

The interview, which was released on social media channels Monday morning, saw the former Fox News host ask President Masoud Pezeshkian if Israel had planned to kill him as it did other officials during last month’s 12-day war.

“They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Pezeshkian said.

“I was in a meeting. We were discussing the ways to move forward, 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 recounted.

Pezeshkian claimed he didn’t fear for his life during the 12-day war, but warned that his death would have likely brought “more bloodshed” to the already tumultuous Middle East.

Israeli officials did not immediately respond to Pezeshkian’s claims, but previous reports claimed that Jerusalem had planned to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the war.

The Iranian president spent the interview avoiding harsh words or blame on the US, which had assisted Israel in bombing three major facilities housing Tehran’s nuclear program.

Instead, Pezeshkian said his government was still open to a new nuclear agreement with the Trump administration, which came to a halt when the war broke out.

Pezeshkian, however, said the onus was on the US to re-establish trust, given that the two nations were set to meet to discuss Iran’s nuclear program when President Trump reportedly gave Israel the green light to attack.

“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?” the Iranian president said.

During the interview, Pezeshkian denied that Iran was working to develop nuclear weapons, and he also rejected reports that Tehran had backed an assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.

He also dodged Carlson’s question on whether Iran would seek help from China or Russia if war breaks out again, with Pezeshkian only reiterating that his country does not seek to restart the fight with Israel.

The interview with Carlson comes as Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington to discuss the situation in Iran and the Gaza Strip.

Iran has yet to allow inspectors with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog group to reenter the country and investigate the damage and condition of its nuclear facilities, with Tehran vowing that it will continue its uranium enrichment program.