Trump allegedly saves Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei from Israeli assassination

United States President Donald Trump reportedly vetoed an Israeli plan to target and assassinate the leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sunday, Jun. 15.

Airstrikes, raids, and assassins

On Jun. 13, Israel launched airstrikes, and reportedly commando raids, on long-term adversary Iran.

Israel mainly targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, as well as ballistic missile production capabilities, most notably the Natanz Nuclear Facility.

But Israel also embarked on a series of strikes targeting notable individuals, including several Iranian nuclear scientists and prominent Iranian leaders, such as the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami.

Reports by Reuters and Politico say that Israel had found a “window” in which it was possible for one of its strikes to target and potentially kill Iran’s de facto leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei has long been a fierce opponent of Israel, often urging its destruction.

Waved off

But Trump reportedly “waved off” Israel from the plan to assassinate Khamenei, as reported by Reuters.

BBC also reported the story, citing three unnamed U.S. officials that spoke to its partner CBS News.

Trump reportedly felt that the plan was "not a good idea".

Reuters further reported that since the initial Jun. 13 attacks, the U.S. has been in “constant communications” with Israel.

A senior U.S. official told Reuters that the U.S. was reluctant to target Iran’s political leadership in part because the Iranians had yet to kill an American in its retaliation.

He said, “Until they do, we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has downplayed the story, telling U.S. entertainment channel Fox News that there were many “false reports of conversations that never happened”.

But he vowed that Israel would do “what we need to do”, saying that the U.S. “knows what is good for the United States”.

In recent days since the strikes, Trump has been, in his own way, urging the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran, telling Iran that it should “make a deal before there is nothing left”.

Trump’s administration has been pursuing its own version of a nuclear deal between itself, Iran, Israel, and other stakeholders to replace the Obama-era deal that he rejected in his first term.

Regime change

Israel, for its part, has long been at odds with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program, but also with the support it has given to armed groups on Israel’s borders, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

But while the U.S. might be bearish on assassinating Kohenmei, Israel is more welcoming of the idea and the subsequent threat to the Iranian state it entails.

Politico reported Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. saying that Israel intended to “neutralise and terminate”  Iran’s plans to use nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles against Israel and would “deal with” anybody who “gets in the way of that or is advancing that cause of destroying Israel”.

Netanyahu, in his interview with Fox News, did not deny the possibility of regime change in Iran being a goal for Israel, acknowledging that it “could certainly be the result”, adding “...because the Iran regime is very weak.”

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Top image via White House/Facebook & Khamenei.ir/X