Trump reportedly blocked Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader

U.S. President Donald Trump recently vetoed an Israeli proposal to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two American officials told Reuters on Sunday.

According to one senior U.S. administration official, the decision was made amid concerns that Iran had not yet directly attacked American personnel. “Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do, we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” the official said.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that high-level communication between U.S. and Israeli officials has been ongoing since Israel launched a large-scale strike aimed at crippling Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Israeli officials reportedly informed Washington they had a clear opportunity to eliminate Iran’s top leader, but Trump advised against it.

It remains unclear whether Trump personally conveyed the directive, though he has reportedly been in frequent contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

When questioned about the report during an interview on Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier, Netanyahu declined to confirm or deny the discussion. “There are 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 this: we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States,” Netanyahu added.

Trump, who has expressed interest in reviving U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, has appeared cautious in escalating tensions further. Scheduled talks between the two countries in Oman on Sunday were canceled following the Israeli strikes.

In a separate interview on Friday, Trump told Reuters that the U.S. was fully informed of Israel’s actions. “We knew everything,” he said.