Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel’s September 9 strike on Hamas leaders in Doha amounted to terrorism and warned that no Arab or Muslim capital is safe from future attacks.
"There should be no doubt that last week’s attacks on Doha were pure terrorism; proof that the Tel Aviv regime has cast aside every moral and legal restraint," Pezeshkian told an emergency summit of Arab and Islamic leaders in Doha on Monday.
The Iranian president said the strike was a pre-planned attempt to destroy diplomatic efforts to end the war in Gaza.
“This aggression against diplomacy is more than a crime; it is an open and shameless declaration that now military power, and not law, is decisive,” he added.
Israeli warplanes bombed a Hamas office in Doha on Tuesday, in what Israel described as ac targeted attack against the group’s senior leadership.
They missed their intended targets, killing a Qatari security official and five lower-ranking Hamas personnel.
Qatar denounced the attack as “criminal and cowardly,” while Iran called it an “extremely dangerous” violation of sovereignty and international law.
Pezeshkian accused the United States and Western powers of giving Israel decades of impunity through vetoes, trade and diplomatic protection.
“When a rogue regime receives weapons, financing and diplomatic support under any circumstances, it learns that there are no limits. History will remember the guilt of those who supported this aggression,” he said.
“The Zionist regime has declared war against our sovereignty, dignity and future. We will not be intimidated, we will not be divided, and we will not remain silent. From the ashes of Gaza, justice will rise. From the rubble of destroyed buildings in Doha, Beirut, Tehran, Damascus and Sanaa, a new order will emerge,” Pezeshkian said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said on Monday he would not rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders “wherever they are.”
The September 9 strike in Doha marked a sharp escalation of Israel’s campaign, in a region already convulsed by conflict since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks that ignited an ongoing war in Gaza.
It appeared to push a negotiated solution to the Gaza conflict further away and left in doubt the next chapter of a regional confrontation pitting Iran against Israel and the United States.
On June 14, one day after Israel's surprise attacks, a small meeting of security cabinet ministers heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say that war goals included eliminating Khamenei.
Others included striking the Fordow nuclear facility, to set fuel depots in Tehran on fire, and work toward killing officials who had replaced assassinated officials targeted in the overnight attacks sparking the 12-day war.
The goal to target the supreme leader was echoed among Netanyahu's government, with controversial right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich telling ministers that Israel must “keep searching for the leader".
At the end of June, Israel Katz, Israel's defense minister, told Hebrew media that the military had hoped to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader.
“If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” he told Channel 13, adding that Israel “searched a lot” for Khamenei but that the operational opportunity did not appear during the bloody conflict that saw over 1,100 Iranians killed and thousands more injured.
The transcripts, set to be broadcast in full Tuesday with an accompanying Netanyahu interview, also detail Israeli hopes that US President Donald Trump would order strikes on Iran’s fortified Fordow nuclear facility, which was indeed later bombed by the US along with Natanz and Isfahan.
‘A historic moment’
According to the newly revealed information, on the eve of the war, Netanyahu argued Iran was “getting close to being the second-biggest powerhouse on ballistic missiles” and said Israel’s opening attack on June 13 could reshape later negotiations.
At the June 12 bunker meeting, he said that Iran already had enough enriched material for “eight to nine bombs” and was advancing on weaponization. “If we don’t act, we simply won’t be here,” he said.
The plan called for destroying the Natanz nuclear facility, targeting nuclear scientists, and striking conversion sites that could turn enriched uranium into bomb cores.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir praised the opening strikes on June 13 as “extraordinary achievements” and said Iran had responded with fewer missile launches than expected.
US support critical to target Fordow
Transcripts reveal an unnamed official cautioning that Fordow could be destroyed “only if the US attacks it,” given the site’s depth under mountainous terrain requiring the specialist bunker-busting bombers that only the US had.
During a call with US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu “pushed and maneuvered” for American refueling planes to support Israeli attacks and a potential strike on Fordow, the transcripts reveal.
Katz said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told him refueling support was being prepared.
The transcripts also show Netanyahu's right-wing ministers pressing for tougher action on Iran. Katz argued for targeting Iran’s state broadcaster and secret police, while Shas party leader Aryeh Deri urged killing officers replacing those already struck.
Iran eventually fired over 500 ballistic missiles and 1,100 drones, killing 31 in Israel and wounding more than 3,000. More than 13,000 Israelis were displaced after homes, universities and a hospital were struck.
Channel 13 said its full feature Tuesday will include further transcripts, including pressure on Trump to bomb Fordow and information about Iran’s strike on Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
“Enemies of Iran should know that our nuclear industry has deep roots and cannot be eliminated through military action,” Eslami said in his address to the 69th General Conference.
He added that “Iran will not yield to political or military pressure and will not give up its inherent rights.”
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said Tehran’s cooperation with the IAEA “has been broad and consistent,” but accused the agency of failing to condemn what he called aggressive acts against Iranian nuclear sites.
“Despite our formal request, the agency did not condemn the attacks by the United States and Israel on the nuclear centers of the Islamic Republic,” he said. “This silence and inaction will remain as a stain on the Agency’s history.”
Eslami also criticized European efforts to trigger the “snapback” mechanism to restore UN sanctions on Iran, calling them illegal.
He said the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), had shown diplomacy could succeed, but argued that Western states had undermined it.
“Today, on the anniversary of the JCPOA, we see unlawful attempts to activate the snapback mechanism,” he said. “These efforts are a mockery of Resolution 2231.”
Eslami also said Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities had targeted not only infrastructure but also diplomacy itself. “The Zionist regime’s goal is not merely to destroy our nuclear centers but to derail the path of diplomacy and peace,” he said.
Eslami also Iran would table a resolution at the conference to ban attacks on nuclear facilities and would hold meetings with states cooperating with Tehran.
The comments come as Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has laid out conditions for future IAEA inspections under a new arrangement signed in Cairo last week by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
The council said any inspection of damaged facilities would require its approval, and warned that implementation would stop if hostile actions, including reinstated UN resolutions, were taken against Iran.
Britain, France and Germany triggered the snapback process on August 28, demanding Iran return to talks and account for missing uranium stockpiles. Unless the Security Council blocks the move, sanctions will automatically resume by late September.
The IAEA reported earlier this month that Iran’s 60% enriched uranium stockpile rose to 440.9 kilograms before the June strikes on its facilities. Grossi said the Cairo deal aims to re-establish monitoring once technical procedures are agreed.
“Caught between drought and choking dust storms, Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province faces an escalating environmental crisis as the Hamoun wetlands dry up and 120-day winds turn into walls of sand,” Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.
Experts warn more than 85% of Hamoun has vanished, driving mass farmland loss, biodiversity collapse, and waves of forced migration.
Studies say 65% of croplands around the wetland are already barren, while dust storms now last over 200 days a year, cutting visibility to a few hundred meters and worsening respiratory illness.
Officials blame water shortages from Afghanistan’s dams on the Helmand River, which deprive Hamoun of its lifeline. Local researchers say completion of the Bakhshabad dam could “deal the final blow” to the wetland.
With little hope of receiving the agreed water rights from Kabul, Iranian specialists are pushing homegrown fixes.
Despite pilot projects and pledges, locals complain of empty promises. “They say they will revive Hamoun, but nothing happens -- every day it dries more,” a resident told Tasnim.
Environmentalists warn time is running out: without immediate action, the region risks irreversible collapse, with fallout for Iran and its neighbors.