Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday did not rule out plans to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it would “end the conflict” between the two arch-foes.
In a 20-minute interview with US network ABC News, the Israeli leader insisted his country’s deadly aggression to “defang” Iran was justified and equated Khamenei to a “modern Hitler”.
But when asked about reports that US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme leader out of concern it would escalate the Iran-Israel showdown, Netanyahu was dismissive.
“It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict,” he said.
“The ‘forever war’ is what Iran wants, and they’re bringing us to the brink of nuclear war,” Netanyahu said.
“In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing this, bringing an end to this aggression, and we can only do so by standing up to the forces of evil.”
Netanyahu did not reveal whether Israel was targeting the ayatollah, saying only: “We’re doing what we need to do.”
