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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/us/politics/cia-israel-ayatollah-compound.html
The CIA Helped Pinpoint a Gathering of Iranian Leaders. Then Israel Struck
(New York Times) Julian E. Barnes - The CIA had been tracking Ayatollah Khamenei for months, gaining more confidence about his locations and his patterns, according to people familiar with the operation. Then the agency learned that a meeting of top Iranian officials including Khamenei would take place on Saturday morning at a leadership compound in Tehran. The CIA passed its intelligence to Israel. The information provided a window of opportunity for the U.S. and Israel to achieve a critical and early victory: the elimination of top Iranian officials including Khamenei. The strike required relatively few Israeli aircraft armed with long-range and highly accurate munitions. An Israeli defense official said that despite Iranian preparations for war, Israel managed to achieve "tactical surprise" with its attack. The U.S. and Israel also gathered specifics about the locations of key Iranian intelligence officers which were hit in follow-on strikes on Saturday. Iran's top intelligence officer escaped, but the senior ranks of Iran's intelligence agencies were decimated.