President Trump rejected a plan presented by Israel to the US to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a US official familiar with the matter. The Israelis informed the Trump administration in recent days that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei. After being briefed on the plan, the White House made clear to Israeli officials that Trump was opposed to the Israelis making the move, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, the AP reports. The news came as Israel's death toll hit 18 with Iran's latest round of missile attacks Monday, the AP reports.
The Trump administration is desperate to keep Israel's military operation aimed at decapitating Iran's nuclear program from exploding into an even more expansive conflict and saw the plan to kill Khamenei as a move that would enflame the conflict and potentially destabilize the region. Asked about the plan during an interview on Fox News Channel's Special Report with Bret Baier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not directly address whether the White House rejected the plan. "But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do," Netanyahu said. "And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States."
Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri later called reports about the Israeli plan to kill Khamenei "fake." As Trump departed the White House on Sunday evening for the Group of Seven leaders summit in the Canadian Rockies, he was tempered in comments to reporters about when the Israeli strikes and Iranian retaliation would wind down. "I hope there is going to be a deal, and we'll see what happens, but sometimes they have to fight it out," Trump said. The conflict is expected to loom large during his talks with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the European Union.
(More
Israel stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
