With Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, dead, the Iranian presidential office said on the 1st that President Masoud Pezeshkian is safe. It formally denied speculation about his safety that arose because he had made no public appearances after the airstrike.
According to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, Mohammad Mahdi Tabatabai, deputy director-general for public communications at the presidential office, said that "President Pezeshkian's health and safety are in perfect condition."
After Khamenei died in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes the previous day, senior Iranian government and military officials issued a series of condolence messages, but with no official statement from President Pezeshkian by the afternoon, some speculated that something might have happened to him. Since the airstrikes, Pezeshkian had not appeared in public, including on state television.
On this, Tabatabai explained that "the president's condolence message on the supreme leader's tragic martyrdom will be released soon."
Under Iran's constitution, President Pezeshkian is one of the three members of the leadership council that forms an acting authority in the event the supreme leader is incapacitated or deceased.
Earlier, Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported, citing Israeli sources, that the targets of the attack included President Pezeshkian along with Khamenei.