Top Khamenei aide appears on state TV following reports of his death in Israeli airstrike
The 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel ended with a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump and Qatar on June 24 and it was reported that Ali Shamkhani — a close aide to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died in Israeli airstrikes which was earlier confirmed by both Israeli and Iranian authorities, appeared on an Iranian state TV and apparently gave an interview on Saturday.
Shamkhani was attending a mass funeral in Tehran which was organised to bid adieu to the dozens of military commanders and nuclear scientists killed in the Israeli attack.
Shamkhani's death was surrounded in mystery after initial reports emerged that he was killed during Israel's June 13 strike on Iran. Though several reports also claimed that Shamkhani had survived the attack and he was seriously wounded.
1- A 9-minute interview with former national security adviser Ali Shamkhani.
His injuries are more or less internal. Shamkhani was under rubble for 3hs after Zionist regime's attack on his flat on the first night of aggression. pic.twitter.com/0lbI96aYEM
— Fereshteh Sadeghi فرشته صادقی (@fresh_sadegh) June 28, 2025
Last week, several Iranian outlets, including IRNA, Tasnim and Fars reported that Shamkhani had not died in the Israeli airstrike, instead had been 'severely injured and hospitalized' in Tel Aviv's attack, though no photos of him were released by any media outlet.
Thereafter, Shamkhani appeared in the pictures of Iran's state media on Saturday covering the state funeral for those who died during the 12-day conflict with Israel. And on the same day, Iran's state news agency IRIB ran Shamkhani's interview, which the news outlet touted as Iran's top official's first television interaction since the attack.
In the televised interview, Shamkhani claimed that he was trapped under the debris of his home for three hours after Israel's strike.
'I did my morning prayer while under the rubble,' he said, reported CNN. 'At first, I thought it was an earthquake. But when I heard the sound of vehicles, I realized it was not,' top Khamenei aide said during the interview.
Israel and Iran are currently observing a ceasefire in hostilities which is fragile, and if broken, could rapidly escalate the tension in the Middle East region.
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