In recent days, Donald Trump blocked a proposal from Israel seeking to eliminate Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader and political leader of Iran, during the recent attacks against the Islamic Republic.
The Reuters agency was the first to report this news and cited two U.S. officials. According to these sources, Israeli authorities communicated that an opportunity had arisen to carry out a targeted attack against the top Iranian leader, but Trump decided not to authorize the operation.
A US official told CBS News that Trump personally conveyed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his disagreement with the proposal and told him it was not a good idea.
What did Netanyahu say about the option of eliminating Ali Khamenei?
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the death of the Iranian supreme leader could end the conflict between Israel and Iran.
The Prime Minister of Israel said in an interview with ABC News, "“It wouldn’t escalate the conflict, but rather put an end to it. We have been dealing with half a century of conflict fueled by this regime that terrorizes everyone in the Middle East: it has bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia and is spreading terrorism, subversion, and sabotage everywhere.”
Netanyahu highlighted that Iran is seeking “eternal war” and is on the verge of unleashing “a nuclear war.” “In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing it, putting an end to this aggression, and we can only achieve this by confronting the forces of evil,” he added.
The Prime Minister of Israel also stated that the recent attacks on Iran have allowed for the destruction of “a large number” of missile launchers, as well as half of the drones that Tehran had.
Regarding the attack on the headquarters of the Iranian public radio and television broadcaster, IRIB, Netanyahu argued that it was not a television, but a “tool of the regime” because “this channel hides the true situation from the Iranians”.