US former President Donald Trump recently vetoed an Israeli plot to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday. The officials, who spoke anonymously, said Trump was moved by the realization that no American lives had so far been lost in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do, we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” said one senior US administration official.
The officials said that American and Israeli high-level discussions have been in progress since Israel made a large attack on Iran with the purpose to restrict its nuclear ambitions. In the course of these negotiations, Israeli officials allegedly told Washington that they had a chance to kill Khamenei, but were dissuaded by Trump.
Though it is not known whether Trump himself relayed the order, the previous president has been in close communication with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the past few days and in the preceding weeks. Asked about the Reuters story in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Bret Baier,” Netanyahu would neither confirm nor deny the report.
“There are just too many rumors of conversations that did not occur at all, and I’m not going to get into that,” Netanyahu said. “But I can tell you, we’re going to do what we need to do, and I believe the United States knows what is good for the United States.”
Trump has kept on the cards hopes of restarting US-Iran nuclear talks. Talks set for Sunday in Oman were, however, canceled after the Israeli airstrikes. On Friday, Trump said to Reuters, “We knew everything” about Israeli operations.
