WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would “end the conflict” between the two nations — after President Trump reportedly urged him not to do it.
“It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict,” Netanyahu told ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl in an interview — arguing that Khamenei is “like a modern Hitler.”
Netanyahu said his country was “doing what we need to do” when asked if Israel would target Khamenei — while noting that Iran’s government allegedly plotted to assassinate Trump and himself.
“They actually had their proxy shoot a drone right into my bedroom window,” Netanyahu said.
Israel on Friday began massive airstrikes on Iran — targeting its nuclear sites as well as top scientists and military officials. The two nations have exchanged daily rocket fire since the initial attack.
Trump asked Netanyahu not to kill Khamenei, 86, Axios and Reuters reported Sunday, who has led Iran since its revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989 after toppling the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a decade earlier.
Netanyahu lavished praise on Trump during his ABC interview, while gently disagreeing on the merits of assassinating the Islamic Republic’s leader, and also politely downplaying the US president’s call for negotiations between the parties.
“They don’t want a seat at the table. They want to blow up the table,” Netanyahu said.
“I understand, ‘America First.’ I don’t understand America, dead,” the Israeli leader said. “We’re doing something that is in the service of mankind, of humanity.”
Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social: “Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal… we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place.”
