Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that the country intended to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the 12-day conflict between the two countries closed on Tuesday (24), but missing “opportunity” for this.
“I believe that if Khamenei was in our view, we would have eliminated him,” Katz said in an interview with TV station channel 13.
“But Khamenei realized this, hid in depths and broke contact with the commanders who replaced those who were eliminated, so, in the end, it was not realistic [a possibilidade de matar o líder iraniano]”The minister said.” We wanted to eliminate Khamenei, but there was no operational opportunity. “
Katz was asked in the interview if Israel sought approval from the United States to kill Khamenei and scored, “We don’t need permission for these things.”
During the 12 -day conflict, Israeli award, Benjamin Netanyahu, asked for a popular uprising in Iran to overthrow Khamenei, and Katz said the supreme leader “can no longer be allowed to continue to exist.”
United States President Donald Trump said during the conflict that he knew “exactly” where Khamenei was, but did not intend to kill him “for now.”
On Tuesday, the day when a ceasefire came into force between Israelis and Iranians, Trump said he does not want a change of regime in Iran.
“If it happens, it happened, but no, I don’t want to [uma mudança de regime]. I would like to see everything calm down as soon as possible, ”he said.“ Changes of regimes generate chaos, and ideally we don’t want to see so much chaos, ”he argued.
