President Trump opposed a recent Israeli plan to kill Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, three U.S. officials told CBS News on Sunday.
The Israelis had the opportunity to assassinate Khamenei and Mr. Trump conveyed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it wasn’t a good idea, one U.S. official told CBS News. They said the conversation between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump happened since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran last week.
Mr. Trump’s rejection of the proposal was first reported by Reuters.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
A senior U.S. official told CBS News on Saturday that there has been no direct contact between the U.S. and Iran. An Israeli official in Washington, D.C., told CBS News on Saturday that there is regular contact between the U.S. and Israel, with leaders having spoken Monday, Thursday and Friday.
During an interview with Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Sunday, Netanyahu did not directly confirm or deny Reuters’ reporting when asked about it.
“There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened and I’m not going to get into that,” he said. “But I can tell you I think we do what we need to do. We will do what we need to do and I think the United States knows what is good for the United States and I’m just not going to get into it.”
