Trump vetoed Israeli plan to kill Iran's supreme leader, US officials say
World
So far, at least 13 people in Israel have been killed and over 300 others injured
WASHINGTON (Reuters/AFP) - President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday.
"Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," said one of the sources, a senior US administration official.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran in a bid to halt its nuclear program.
They said the Israelis reported that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off of the plan.
The officials would not say whether Trump himself delivered the message. But Trump has been in frequent communications with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When asked about Reuters report, Netanyahu, in an interview on Sunday with Fox News Channel's "Special Report With Bret Baier," said: "There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that."
"But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States," Netanyahu said.
Trump has been holding out hope for a resumption of US-Iranian negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program. Talks that had been scheduled for Sunday in Oman were canceled as a result of the strikes.
Trump told Reuters on Friday that "we knew everything" about the Israeli strikes.
Meanwhile US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism that Iran and Israel will soon reach a peace agreement.
In a statement posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said, “Many meetings and phone calls are taking place. Iran and Israel will make a deal.”
He compared the potential Iran-Israel agreement to the one he claimed to have brokered between India and Pakistan during his presidency. “In the India-Pakistan agreement, we used trade with the U.S. as an incentive. I spoke to two great leaders who could make decisions quickly—and everything stopped,” Trump said.
The US president also remarked, “I do a lot of things but never get credit for anything—but that’s okay, the people understand everything.”
Trump highlighted other diplomatic efforts from his first term, including brokering agreements between Serbia and Kosovo, and between Egypt and Ethiopia.
He concluded his message with the words: “Make the Middle East Great Again.”
TEHRAN DOES NOT SEEK NUCLEAR WEAPONS, SAYS PRESIDENT
Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, reiterating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's religious edict against weapons of mass destruction.
IRAN LAUNCHES NEW WAVE OF STRIKES AGAINST ISRAEL
The Israeli military says Iran is firing missiles at Israel and is activating air raid sirens in several areas of the country.
“At this time, the Air Force is working to intercept and attack wherever necessary to eliminate the threat,” it said in a post on X.
Iran’s Tasnim News agency also reported that the Iranian military has launched a new wave of attacks against Israel.
CASUALTIES REPORTED AMID EXPLOSIONS OVER TEL AVIV, JERUSALEM
Live footage from Israel shows explosions in the night sky over the city of Tel Aviv as the Israeli Iron Dome system intercepts a barrage of missiles fired from Iran.
There were reports of explosions over the city of Jerusalem too, according to the Reuters news agency.
The Kan Israeli public broadcaster is meanwhile reporting casualties from the latest strikes from Iran, without providing details.
Kan quoted the military as saying that it also detected strikes coming from Yemen.
ISRAELI ARMY SAYS IT IS STRIKING IRAN SURFACE-TO-SURFACE MISSILE SITES
The Israeli military said early Monday that it was striking surface-to-surface missile sites in Iran, its latest move in three days of escalating conflict between the rival states.
The IDF is currently striking surface-to-surface missile sites in central Iran. We are operating against this threat in our skies and in Iranian skies.
— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) June 15, 2025
"The IDF is currently striking surface-to-surface missile sites in central Iran," Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Nadav Shoshani wrote on X. "We are operating against this threat in our skies and in Iranian skies."
MEDIATORS QATAR, OMAN TOLD BY IRAN IT WON'T NEGOTIATE 'WHILE UNDER ATTACK'
Mediators Qatar and Oman were told by Iran that Tehran "will not negotiate while under attack", an official briefed on the talks said Sunday, amid an massive exchange of strikes between Israel and the Islamic republic.
"The Iranians informed Qatari and Omani mediators that they will only pursue serious negotiations once Iran has completed its response to the Israeli pre-emptive strikes, while also making it clear that it will not negotiate while under attack," the source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talks.
IRAN HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS ISRAELI STRIKES HAVE KILLED 224 PEOPLE SINCE FRIDAY
Iran's health ministry said Sunday that three days of Israeli strikes on the country had killed 224 people and injured more than 1,200.
— Hossein.Kermanpour (@HKermanpour) June 15, 2025
"After 65 hours of aggression by the Zionist regime, 1,277 people have been injured. 224 women, men and children have been martyred," the ministry's spokesman Hossein Kermanpour wrote on X, adding that 90 percent of those killed had been civilians.
IRAN SLAMS ISRAELI ‘SURGICAL STRIKES’ AS PROPAGANDA, SAYS WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has accused Israel of spreading propaganda about its military operations, calling claims of “surgical strikes” with no civilian harm a blatant lie.
Israeli propaganda: "Surgical strikes, no residential damage."
— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) June 15, 2025
Reality: In just three recent strikes in Tehran, 73 women and kids killed; 20 children killed in Chamran residential complex, 10 still remain trapped under rubble 48 hours later.
Their 'surgical accuracy'?!…
“In just three recent strikes in Tehran, 73 women and children were killed,” Baqaei said on X, adding that in one location – the Chamran residential complex – 20 children were killed, with 10 more still trapped under the rubble some 48 hours later.
“Targeting families, kids and women… That’s the routine barbarity,” he added.
ISRAEL ARMY ORDERS CITIZENS TO HEAD TO SHELTERS AFTER IRAN LAUNCHES FRESH ATTACK
The Israeli army on Sunday called on citizens to take shelter after detecting new missile launches from Iran toward Israel.
"Sirens sounded in several areas across Israel following the identification of missiles from Iran toward the state of Israel," the military said in a statement.
"At this time, the (air force) is operating to intercept and strike where necessary to eliminate the threat," it said, instructing citizens to seek shelter.
Sirens were triggered across several settlements, including Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and occupied Al-Quds, as well as areas between Netanya and Ashdod.
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) June 15, 2025
Reports also indicated that the al-Khidr power station near Tel Aviv was targeted. https://t.co/k99eIkng6G
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran would face “a very heavy price” for the killing of Israeli civilians, as intense hostilities between the two countries entered their third consecutive day.
Israel launched a major air assault on Iran on Friday, targeting nuclear facilities and killing senior commanders and scientists. The operation was described as an effort to halt Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons—an accusation Tehran denies, maintaining its uranium enrichment is for peaceful, civilian use.
“Iran will pay a very heavy price for the deliberate killing of civilians, including women and children,” Netanyahu said while visiting the site of a missile strike on a residential building in Bat Yam, a coastal city near Tel Aviv.
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, as US President Donald Trump said the conflict could be easily ended while warning Tehran not to strike any US targets.
Israeli rescue teams combed through the rubble of residential buildings destroyed in strikes, using flashlights and sniffer dogs to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, authorities said.
The Israeli military warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to evacuate, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks by Israel so far were nothing compared with what Iran would see in the coming days.
#BREAKING
— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) June 15, 2025
Video showing an Iranian Hypersonic missile striking a target in the Gush Dan. pic.twitter.com/P2UJlkUt9K
"If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before," Trump said in a message on Truth Social. "However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict."
Trump gave no details of any possible deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Israel's attacks, which began on Friday, were aimed at sabotaging nuclear talks with the U.S. that were to resume in Oman on Sunday, and which have now been cancelled. He said Israel's attacks had the support of the U.S. and that Iran was acting only in self-defence.
Araqchi has previously said the Oman talks could not take place while Iran was being subjected to Israel's "barbarous" attacks.
Israel has said the campaign's goal is to stop Iran from developing atomic weapons and taking out its ballistic missile capabilities. Officials have acknowledged the military strikes were unlikely to fully halt Iran's nuclear programme and voiced hopes they would lead to a comprehensive U.S.-Iran deal.
Iran has said 78 people were killed there on the first day of Israel's campaign, and scores more on the second, including 60 when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran, where 29 of the dead were children.
Iran’s hypersonic missile tore through the skies to strike Haifa, plunging the Israeli city into sudden darkness. https://t.co/NrMOYhRqjt
— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) June 15, 2025
The Shahran oil depot in Tehran was targeted in an Israeli attack, Iran said, but added the situation was under control. A fire had erupted after an Israeli attack on an oil refinery near the capital while Israeli strikes also targeted Iran's defence ministry building, causing minor damage, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Sunday.
Buildings were reduced to ruins on both sides, and people hid in shelters as the crossfire continued.
In Israel, the latest wave of Iranian attacks began shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday (2000 GMT), when air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Haifa, sending around a million people into bomb shelters.
Around 2:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT Saturday), the Israeli military warned of another incoming missile barrage and urged residents to seek shelter. Explosions echoed through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as missiles streaked across the skies as interceptor rockets were launched in response. The military lifted its shelter-in-place advisory nearly an hour after issuing the warning.
GERMANY, FRANCE, UK OFFER IRAN TALKS OVER NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Meanwhile, Germany, France and Britain are ready to hold immediate talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme in a bid to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.
Wadephul, who is on a visit to the Middle East, said he was trying to contribute towards a de-escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran, adding that Tehran had previously failed to take the opportunity to enter into constructive talks.
HOUTHIS ATTACK ISRAEL
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Sunday they targeted central Israel's Jaffa with several ballistic missiles in the last 24 hours, the first time an ally of Iran has joined the fray.
Tehran has warned Israel's allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles.
However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran's strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.
Israeli authorities said at least 10 people were killed overnight, including three children, and more than 140 injured by missiles that had hit homes in northern and central Israel.
Israeli media said at least 35 people were missing after a strike hit Bat Yam, a city south of Tel Aviv. A spokesperson for the emergency services said a missile hit an 8-storey building there and while many people were rescued, there were fatalities.
So far, at least 13 people in Israel have been killed and over 300 others injured since Iran launched its retaliatory attacks on Friday.
In the first apparent attack to hit Iran's energy infrastructure, Tasnim news agency said Iran partially suspended production at South Pars, the world's biggest gas field, after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday.
The South Pars field, offshore in Iran's southern Bushehr province, is the source of most of the gas produced in Iran.
Fears about potential disruption to the region's oil exports had already driven up oil prices 9% on Friday even though Israel spared Iran's oil and gas on the first day of its attacks.
With Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu urging Iran's people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.
Israel sees Iran's nuclear programme as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.
Tehran insists the programme is entirely civilian and that it does not seek an atomic bomb. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, however, reported Iran this week as violating obligations under the global non-proliferation treaty.
IRAN EVACUATES MUSEUM ARTIFACTS TO SECURE STORAGE FACILITIES
Iran’s national carrier, Iran Air, says authorities have completed an emergency transfer of key historical artifacts from major museums to secure storage facilities.
The relocation was conducted by Iran’s cultural heritage protection unit following the Israeli attacks on Iran.
In response to recent #israeli attacks on #Iran, #Iranian authorities have completed the emergency transfer of key historical artifacts from major museums to secure storage facilities across the country. #Tehran pic.twitter.com/fxo9XUAeyX
— Iran Air (@IranAir_IRI) June 15, 2025
TEHRAN OIL REFINERY OPERATIONS NOT DISRUPTED BY FIRE
Fuel production, supply and distribution continue without disruption at the Tehran Oil Refinery, reports Iran's Student News Network, as an overnight Israeli strike at a fuel tank non-related to the refinery sparked a fire.
ISRAELI MILITARY ISSUES EVACUATION WARNINGS TO IRANIANS NEAR WEAPONS FACILITIES
Israel issued evacuation warnings to Iranians living near weapons production facilities in Tehran as the two nations continued to exchange missile attacks that began on Friday.
"The Israeli military will strike these sites and will continue to peel away the Iranian snake’s skin in Tehran and everywhere — targeting nuclear capabilities and weapons systems," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Israel had earlier issued an evacuation warning to Iranians residing near weapons facilities in Iran, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a post on X in Arabic and Farsi.
The spokesperson said the warning included all weapons factories and supporting facilities.
ISRAELI AIRSPACE REMAINS CLOSED FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE DAY
Israel's airspace remains closed Sunday for a third consecutive day, say authorities said the country's.
"Due to the security situation and in accordance with the instructions of security authorities, Israeli airspace is currently closed to civilian aviation -- no incoming or outgoing flights are operating," said a joint statement from the transport and foreign ministries.
Israeli media reported that thousands of Israeli nationals were stranded abroad since Friday when the Israeli military began striking military and nuclear targets in Iran.
A statement from the Israel airports authority spokesperson confirmed that Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv would remain closed, saying "a notice regarding its reopening will be given with at least 6 hours' advance warning".
"A decision to resume flights to Israel will only be made once it is deemed safe to do so," the statement said.
CYPRUS PRESIDENT 'NOT HAPPY' WITH EU'S 'SLOW' RESPONSE TO MIDEAST CRISIS
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides says he is not happy with the EU’s slow response to the crisis unfolding in the Middle East and has asked Brussels to convene an extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
Christodoulides is also expected to talk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Iran has asked the Cypriot leader to “convey some messages to Israel”, he announced.
Cyprus, the closest EU member state in the region, is particularly affected by Israel’s decision to attack Iran since it has caused major flight disturbances, including the diversion of flights to its airports.
