Trump rejects Israel's plan to kill Iran's Supreme leader Khamenei

Donald Trump. Pic/AP

US President Donald Trump opposed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, CNN reported, amid ongoing waves of tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Iran. Over the weekend, one senior US official told CNN, the Israelis had an opportunity to kill Iran's supreme leader. The US communicated to Israel that Trump opposed that plan, the senior official said, and the plan was not executed.

Trump is eager to de-escalate, wary of becoming bogged in another Middle East war and highly attuned to the changing politics of his party.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday morning (local time) that there are "so many false reports of conversations that never happened and I'm not going to get into that". A spokesperson for Netanyahu told CNN that the reports of Trump rejecting an Israeli plan are "FAKE." Even as the conflict escalated, administration officials made clear they were open to continuing nuclear talks with Iran, hoping that, despite impossible odds, they could salvage a peaceful solution, as per CNN.

Sources familiar with the matter say Israel has spoken with the US about possibly increasing its level of involvement, though one Israeli official cautioned that those conversations have not yet included "practical" discussions of the finer details. While Trump hopes to avoid a prolonged conflict that could further destabilise the Middle East, some in the administration recognise that American military assistance may help Israel achieve its objectives more quickly, CNN reported.

"We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved," Trump said, CNN quoted. Since Israel launched its first attack, the US has offered defensive support to Israel, intercepting an onslaught of Iranian reprisal strikes, as per CNN. But Trump has stopped well short of joining Israel's military in its attempts to dismantle Iran's nuclear facilities, resisting pressure from other Republicans to join the fight. Trump wishes to be a global peacemaker, in his attempts to stop the conflicts across the world- for example, Russia-Ukraine and the Middle East, CNN reported.

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