Khamenei Doomed by Surveillance Cameras—Will Xi Jinping Learn the Lesson?

CCP’s surveillance

[People News] How exactly was Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei precisely eliminated? On March 2, the Financial Times revealed startling details, pointing to an intelligence operation that had been developing for more than 20 years.

The groundwork for the operation reportedly dates back to 2001, when then–Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered Iran to be designated a top strategic target. Much of the intelligence capability behind the effort came from Israel’s signals intelligence unit known as Unit 8200.

According to the report, Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad had hacked into nearly all of Tehran’s traffic surveillance cameras years earlier—essentially penetrating the city’s “Skynet”-style monitoring system. Cameras originally intended to monitor the public ended up functioning as tracking devices for Khamenei.

Israel did not merely watch the video feeds. They also used AI algorithms to build detailed profiles of every bodyguard around Khamenei. These profiles included home addresses, commuting schedules, routes taken to and from work, and which officials each guard was assigned to protect. All of this information was organized into what analysts call “pattern-of-life” analysis. They reportedly even knew exactly where Khamenei’s bodyguards parked their personal vehicles.

One Israeli intelligence officer was quoted as saying:
“We know Tehran the way we know the Jerusalem neighborhoods we grew up in. Any unusual movement immediately stands out.”

Technology alone, however, was not enough. According to the report, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) provided crucial assistance. The CIA reportedly had an internal source inside Iran who delivered the most critical intelligence—confirming that Khamenei and other senior leaders were meeting in an office on Saturday morning.

To ensure absolute certainty, the Israeli military conducted a strict two-step verification process. Two senior officers independently confirmed the target’s identity before authorizing the strike.

On the day of the operation, Israeli forces first cut off signals from 12 cellular base stations near Pasteur Street. This meant that Khamenei’s security personnel could not send distress signals or receive warnings—only seeing “busy” signals on their phones.

Israeli aircraft then launched approximately 30 precision-guided missiles, reportedly codenamed “Sparrow.” Fired from outside the range of Iran’s air-defense systems, the missiles have a range exceeding 1,000 kilometers and struck with precision at the meeting site where Khamenei was located.

China’s “Skynet Project” has installed hundreds of millions of surveillance cameras across the country to monitor ordinary citizens. If surveillance cameras ultimately played a role in Khamenei’s death, the question arises: after learning of this, will Xi Jinping draw any lessons from it—or even consider dismantling parts of China’s vast monitoring network?

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