Trump blocked Israeli move to target Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, say US officials

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Sunday.

“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” said one of the sources, a senior U.S. administration official.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top U.S. officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran in a bid to halt its nuclear program.

They said the Israelis reported that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off of the plan.

The officials would not say whether Trump himself delivered the message. But Trump has been in frequent communications with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

When asked about Reuters report, Netanyahu, in an interview on Sunday with Fox News Channel’s “Special Report With Bret Baier,” said: “There’s so many false reports of
conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that.”

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“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.

Trump has been holding out hope for a resumption of U.S.-Iranian negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. Talks that had been scheduled for Sunday in Oman were canceled as a result of the strikes.

Trump told Reuters on Friday that “we knew everything” about the Israeli strikes.

Earlier, Iran and Israel will have peace “soon”, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Sunday, adding that there were many unspecified meetings happening and that the two countries should make a deal.

Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores.

“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that “we will have PEACE, soon.”

Trump did not offer any details about the meetings or evidence of progress toward peace. His assertion contradicted comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel’s campaign against Iran would intensify.