Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News that he does not rule out a scenario with an attempt to eliminate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. According to him, “this will not lead to an escalation of the conflict, but will put an end to it.”
This is how he commented on Western media publications that US President Donald Trump rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, fearing it would escalate the conflict.
“Iran wants” perpetual war “and they are putting us on the brink of nuclear war. In fact, Israel is trying to prevent this, to put an end to this aggression, and we can only do this by confronting the forces of evil,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister also said that supporting Israel in its quest to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme was in the interests of the US.
“Today it’s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow it’s New York. Look, I understand ‘America First’. I don’t understand ‘America is dead.’ That’s what these people want. They are chanting ‘Death to America,'” the Israeli prime minister said.
He also denied a report by The Wall Street Journal that said Iran had sent signals through mediators of a desire to end hostilities and resume talks on its nuclear programme.
“They want to continue these phony negotiations in which they lie, cheat, lead the U.S. around by the nose. They want to continue building their nuclear weapons and building up their arsenal of ballistic missiles that they fire at our people,” Netanyahu stressed.
Israel began airstrikes on Iranian territory on 13 June, attacking nuclear, military and energy facilities. In response, Iran launched missile and drone strikes against Israel.