Trump Pulls the Trigger Back: Why Did He Reject Israel’s Proposal to Assassinate Khamenei?
What was former President Donald Trump’s stance on Israel’s proposal to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei?
According to Axios, citing American officials, Trump rejected an Israeli suggestion to assassinate Khamenei, despite an apparent opportunity that arose during a recent Israeli operation.
One senior U.S. official told the outlet:n“Since the start of the Israeli operation, the opportunity to eliminate Khamenei was there. But we made it clear that President Trump was strongly against it. As long as the Iranians hadn’t killed any Americans, targeting political leaders was simply not on the table.”
This position highlights the Trump administration’s intent to avoid direct escalation between Israel and Iran, favoring a return to negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program rather than engaging in acts that could spark a full-scale regional war.
A controversy of leaks and denials
Reuters was the first to report that the U.S. and Israel had discussed targeting the Iranian Supreme Leader, sparking a wave of official denials and mixed messages.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi denied that Trump had vetoed any Israeli plan, dismissing the Axios report as “fake news.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, stated: “There are lots of false reports about conversations that never even happened, and I don’t want to get into that.”
Conversely, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Yehiel Leiter, didn’t rule out Khamenei as a legitimate military target: “I think it’s fair to say that anyone who threatens to annihilate Israel should not be off the list of possible targets.”
Signs of divergence between the U.S. and Israel
These comments underscore the underlying tension in both political and military circles about the scope of escalation against Iran. They also suggest a possible rift between Washington and Tel Aviv over how to confront Iranian leadership — at a highly sensitive moment in Middle Eastern geopolitics.
