President Donald Trump recently blocked an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to two senior U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters under condition of anonymity, Israeli authorities, following their large-scale military strikes aimed at crippling Iran’s nuclear capabilities, had informed America of a window to eliminate Khamenei.
However, Trump reportedly vetoed the operation, insisting that no action be taken against Iran’s political leadership unless the country directly targets American personnel.
“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do, we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” one of the officials said.
While the sources did not confirm whether Trump personally communicated the directive to Israeli leadership, they noted that the president has maintained frequent contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu throughout the recent escalation.
In a Sunday interview with Fox News Channel’s Special Report With Bret Baier, Netanyahu declined to comment directly on the report.
“There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that,” he said.
“But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States,” he added.
The revelation comes as Trump continues to push for diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. A new round of talks, previously set to take place in Oman on Sunday, was cancelled in the wake of the Israeli strikes.
