US official reveals: Trump vetoed Israel's assassination plan for Khamenei

Agence France-Presse reported on Sunday (June 15) that a senior US official revealed that US President Trump had opposed an Israeli拟定 assassination plan targeting Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei. Trump also said that the US might intervene in the conflict between Israel and Iran, and was open to Putin acting as a mediator.

The anonymous US official told AFP, "We found out that Israel planned to target the Iranian leader. President Trump expressed opposition and clearly told them not to do so."

Another official told Reuters, "Have Iranians killed Americans? No. Unless they do so, we will not consider taking action against their political leadership."

Since this Friday, Israel has launched an unprecedented large-scale air strike on Iran, targeting hundreds of military and nuclear facilities, aiming to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

In this air strike, Israel killed several senior Iranian military and political officials, including Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, Chief of Staff, Mohammad Bagheri, and nine scientists involved in the nuclear project.

Assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei is a highly provocative act that could provoke a strong retaliation from Iran, leading to a full-scale escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran into a large-scale war, which might involve the US. This aligns with Trump's preference to avoid direct conflict with Iran and seek peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue. The US has had multiple experiences of military intervention in the Middle East and is well aware of the huge costs and uncertainties brought by war, so Trump may want to veto this plan to control the situation.

In addition, assassinating the highest leader of a country seriously violates international law and basic norms of international relations, and would be widely condemned by the international community, putting the US and Israel at a disadvantage in public opinion and making them the focus of criticism.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1835043255405572/

Disclaimer: This article represents the author's personal views only.