“Why We Didn’t Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei,” Israel Speaks

• Israel has revealed that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would have been eliminated if he hadn't gone into hiding
• Defence Minister Israel Katz, in an interview on Thursday, disclosed that the Iranian leader had been marked for death, but that Israel was unable to locate him as he went underground
• Katz revealed further that Israel “searched a lot” for Khamenei but the operational opportunity did not arise

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

In a dramatic twist of events, Israel has announced that it would have killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were it possible during the countries' 12-day war.

Khamenei went hiding underground, says Israel

Defence Minister Israel Katz revealed this on Thursday, June 26, in an interview with Israel's Kan public television.

"I estimate that if Khamenei had been in our sights, we would have taken him out," Katz said.

"But Khamenei understood this, went underground to very great depths, and broke off contacts with the commanders who replaced those commanders who were eliminated, so it wasn’t realistic in the end," he said.

Reuters reported that Israel killed several top Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists on June 13 at the start of the war.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States president Donald Trump had both suggested at various times during the air war that Khamenei's life could be in danger as regime change could be a result of the war that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire on June 24.

Iran rules out meeting with US officials

Legit.ng earlier reported that Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi has clarified President Donald Trump's statement about a planned meeting with the US officials slated for next week.

In an interview on Thursday, Araqchi maintained that Iran has no plans to meet with US officials as the country is still assessing the damage caused by US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

Trump earlier declared that the 12-day war between Iran and Israel is over, following a ceasefire reached between both countries days after the US bombed three Iranian nuclear sites.

Read more about Iran vs Israel conflict

• Angry Trump issues fresh warning to Israel, Iran
• Israel drops ‘small’ bomb in Iran after Trump-Netanyahu call
• Breaking: Israel issues fresh threat to Iran amid ceasefire talks

Did Trump bomb Iran's nuclear facilities?

In another development, Legit.ng reported that the US President Donald Trump's claim of destroying Iran's nuclear facilities might not be factual, as satellite images reportedly suggested otherwise.

According to the reported images, several cargo vehicles at the entrance of the tunnel, the site of key Iranian nuclear facilities inside a mountain, were seen two days before the US strikes.

This came just days after a US intelligence report concluded that the American strikes had not destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities but had merely set the country back by a few months.

Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng