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President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a US official has said.
Israel recently told the Trump administration that it had a plan to assassinate Khamenei, according to the source, who spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.
The White House voiced its opposition to the move, the official said.
The development, which follows similar reports from Reuters, comes after Israel launched a surprise attack against Iran on Friday, targeting its nuclear facilities and killing some senior military commanders and scientists.
Iran responded by launching missile strikes against Israel, with the conflict now entering its fourth day.
Asked about reports that Trump had rejected Israel’s alleged Khamenei assassination plot, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday: “There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that.
“But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States.”
Netanyahu said he had been “in constant contact with President Trump” in recent days, adding that he had warned his US counterpart about Israeli strikes against Iran.
“Obviously, we informed our American friends … ahead of time,” he said.
Asked about Israel’s decision to attack Iran, Netanyahu said regime change “could certainly be the result because the Iranian regime is very weak”.
Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri later called reports about the Israeli plan to kill Khamenei “fake”.
Early on Sunday, Trump posted on social media, warning Iran not to attack US targets in the region and claiming that the conflict between Iran and Israel could “easily” be resolved.
“The US had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight. If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!”, he said.
The Iran-Israel conflict will undoubtedly dominate Trump’s talks with the leaders of the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union this week.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Sunday confirmed the deaths of the Islamic Revolutionary Corps intelligence chief Mohammad Kazemi and his deputy Hassan Mohaqiq in Israeli attacks.
Israel has said it attacked Iran on Friday to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has promised to stop firing missiles as soon as Israel stops striking Iran.
