Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday didn’t rule out targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, just hours after reports emerged that President Trump nixed a plan by Israel to take out Khamenei.
“It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict,” Netanyahu told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl when asked about the reports that Trump rejected the plan because it was concerned about escalation.
Asked if Israel intended to target Khamenei, Netanyahu responded that his country was “doing what we need to do.”
Israel on Thursday launched a massive military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Nearly two dozen of Iran’s senior military commanders and top nuclear scientist have been confirmed dead.
Multiple outlets, including CBS News, The Associated Press and Reuters reported Sunday night that Israeli forces had an opportunity to assassinate Khamenei, but Trump rejected the proposal.
Netanyahu responded to the reports in a Fox News “Special Report with Bret Baier” interview on Sunday without directly answering to whether there is an assassination plot.
“There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that,” he told Baier. “We will do what we need to do, and I think the United States knows what is good for the United States, and I’m just not going to get into it.”