Iranian State News broadcast an apparent interview on Saturday with Ali Shamkhani – A collaborator close to the supreme chief of Iran who had previously been reported dead by the Israeli and Iranian media.
Mystery went up on Shamkhani’s fate in the days that followed a death after the strikes of Israel on June 13 on Iran.
Last Friday, several Iranian outlets – including Irna, Tasnim and Fars – said that Shamkhani was not dead but had been “seriously injured and hospitalized” during the strike. However, they did not publish new photos of him.
Then, Shamkhani appeared in photos of the media coverage of the Iranian state of the funeral on Saturday for the killed during the 12 -day conflict with Israel.
On the same day, the Iranian state news agency Irib managed what it presented Shamkhani’s first television interview with the Iranian state media since the attack.
CNN cannot independently check its identity or the date on which the maintenance has been recorded.
Learn more about the interview: Shamkhani is shown by holding a walking stick and using respiratory aid. He refers to an Israeli shot at home, saying that he was trapped by rubble for three hours after the attack.
“I did my morning prayer under the rubble,” he said.
Irib also published images of what she said was the house of Shamkhani, reduced to concrete and broken reinforcement bars.
“At the beginning, I thought it was an earthquake. But when I heard the noise of the vehicles, I realized that it was not the case,” he said in the interview, adding that he had undergone internal injuries in the attack and that his rib cage was fractured.
“I know why they targeted me, but I can’t say it,” he added.
CNN contacted the Israeli authorities to comment.
