Netanyahu says he won't rule out killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
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TEL-AVIV - Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in an interview with ABC News that he would not rule out the possibility of killing Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Over the weekend, several media outlets reported that Israel planned to kill Khamenei on Friday, but Donald Trump vetoed the plan.
The prime minister was asked during the interview about these reports. Netanyahu then responded that “this (Khamenei’s death) will not intensify the conflict, it will end the conflict.”
The journalist then asked whether Israel would actually target the supreme leader. Netanyahu said Israel was “doing what we need to do.” “I won’t go into details, but we are targeting their top nuclear scientists. It’s basically Hitler’s nuclear team,” he added.
The prime minister held his first news conference since the conflict began on Monday. Asked again whether Israel was seeking regime change in Iran as part of its ongoing offensive, Netanyahu did not answer directly. But he said there was always the possibility that the Iranian government could collapse as a result of the Israeli strike.
“It is impossible to predict, but it could be the result of our powerful action,” he said. He later added: “We are changing the face of the Middle East, and this could lead to far-reaching changes within Iran itself.”
Israel began its strikes against Iran last Thursday , targeting mainly Iranian nuclear plants. But now, the country appears to have expanded its targets, targeting power plants, factories and aircraft . In doing so, Israel aims to weaken the Iranian state, further damage the country's already shaky economy and possibly trigger regime change, according to analysts and former officials.
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On Sunday, news agencies and newspapers reported that the US president rejected a plan put forward by Israel to the US to kill Iran’s supreme leader. “Have the Iranians ever killed an American? No. Until they do, we will not even talk about going after their political leadership,” a senior US administration official quoted Trump as saying.
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The Israelis informed the Trump administration in recent days that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei. After being briefed on the plan, the White House made it clear to Israeli officials that Trump was against the Israeli initiative.
The Trump administration is desperate to prevent Israel's military operation aimed at decapitating Iran's nuclear program from exploding into a wider conflict and saw the plan to kill Khamenei as a move that would inflame the conflict and potentially destabilize the region.
Netanyahu's spokesman Omer Dostri later called reports of an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei "false."
