Wounded Iran President Escaped Israeli Air Strike

Mohsen Rezaei, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general, also told state TV that Israel “struck six points at the location where the Supreme National Security Council was meeting, but not the slightest harm was done to any of its members”.

But in an interview with Tucker Carlson, the political commentator, Mr Pezeshkian accused Israel of trying to assassinate him but did not admit to having being injured. “They did try, yes... They acted accordingly, but they failed,” he said.

The interview drew major criticism from MPs in Iran, with 24 joining in a public letter accusing the president of undermining national security.

They said his openness to renewed negotiations with the US in spite of the American strikes on three key nuclear facilities, and his willingness to co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has since been expelled from the country, showed weakness.

“From a national security standpoint, such messaging risks inviting further aggression,” the MPs wrote.