Israeli Prime Minister Does Not Rule Out Assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader
The attack on Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will end, rather than escalate, the war between Israel and Iran that broke out late last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the American television channel ABC News.
When asked by a journalist about US President Donald Trump's alleged rejection of Israel's plan to assassinate Iran's supreme leader because he was concerned about escalating the conflict, Netanyahu replied: "This will not escalate the conflict, this will end the conflict".
"We have half a century of conflict that this regime is spreading, that is terrorizing everyone in the Middle East. It bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia; it is spreading terrorism, subversion and sabotage everywhere. Iran wants perpetual war, and they are bringing us to the brink of nuclear war," the Israeli prime minister continued.
He claims that Israel is preventing this and putting an end to the aggression. When asked if Israel would indeed target Khamenei, Netanyahu replied that the country is "doing what we need
"I'm not going to go into detail, but we targeted their top nuclear scientists. This is effectively Hitler's nuclear team," the Israeli prime minister said.
Netanyahu added that it is in the US's interest to support Israel, which seeks to eliminate Iran's nuclear program.
- On June 13, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it had carried out a "preemptive strike" on Iran's nuclear program facilities to prevent Tehran from obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
- The attack killed several top Iranian military officials, including IRGC Commander-in-Chief Salami.
- Netanyahu called on the citizens of Iran to overthrow the Islamic regime, which "has oppressed its own people for decades."