CIA intel leads strike killing Iran's Khamenei

A precision strike on a Tehran leadership compound wiped out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and gutted Iran's top military brass on Saturday morning.

How the C.I.A. tracked Khamenei

• The C.I.A. had been monitoring Khamenei's movements for months.
• Intelligence from last year's 12-day war sharpened their tracking ability.
• A Saturday-morning gathering of top officials sealed the timing.
• High-fidelity location data got passed directly to Israel.

The strike itself went down fast

• Israeli fighter jets launched around 6 a.m. from their bases.
• Long-range missiles hit the Tehran compound roughly two hours later.
• Khamenei and senior officials occupied separate buildings at the site.
• Israel pulled off what they called tactical surprise despite war prep.

Top Iranian military leaders confirmed dead

• Ali Shamkhani headed Iran's National Defense Council before the strike killed him.
• Mohammad Pakpour ran the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as commander-in-chief.
• Iran's state agency IRNA confirmed both deaths on Sunday.
• Follow-on strikes also decimated senior intelligence agency ranks.

Who else was targeted at the compound

• Mohammad Shirazi served as deputy intelligence minister.
• Aziz Nasirzadeh held the defense minister role.
• Seyyed Majid Mousavi commanded the IRGC Aerospace Force.
• Iran's top intelligence officer managed to escape the operation.

U.S.-Israel coordination ran deep

• Joint planning had been underway for months before Saturday.
• Trump previously claimed the U.S. knew Khamenei's hiding spot.
• Both countries originally planned a nighttime strike instead.
• Intelligence networks from the prior conflict powered this whole operation.