Iran's Araghchi reveals meaning of '110' code used in crisis meetings

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the '110' code used in emergency government meetings during wartime refers to a scenario in which Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is assassinated. Speaking on director Javad Mughaissi's "Narration of War" program, Araghchi said Iran's leadership found it psychologically difficult to discuss the possibility of the Supreme Leader's martyrdom directly, so the numerical code was adopted among meeting participants. Araghchi confirmed that Iran had a pre-prepared plan to immediately close the Strait of Hormuz in connection with that scenario. He also recounted that a regional leader had warned ahead of a "40-day war" that Israel would strike Iran's nuclear, missile and oil facilities, and that subsequent attacks would target the Iranian leadership itself. The foreign minister said Iran had made clear that if the United States intervened, U.S. bases in the region would fall within Iranian firing range, and that any strike on Iranian oil facilities would prevent all regional states from exporting oil. He added that Iran's decision to enter negotiations at a time when it was being pressed to choose between suspending uranium enrichment and a military option was strategic, and that Tehran continued talks even when the chance of avoiding war was as low as 10 percent.