06/16/2025
President Donald Trump recently vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to numerous reports.
Two anonymous U.S. officials speaking with Reuters claimed that Israel had an opportunity to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, however the White House made it clear that President Trump was against Israel moving on Khamenei.
“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” a senior U.S. official told Reuters.
Fox News, the Associated Press, and Axios reporter Barak Ravid also corroborated the Reuters report on Sunday.
U.S. officials stated that they have been in constant communication with Israeli officials since the missile exchange between Israel and Iran broke out, according to the Reuters report.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about the plan during a Fox News interview on Sunday, responding without directly addressing whether the White House rejected the assassination plot.
“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 stated.
Netanyahu also stated that Iran made an attempt on his life in recent days.
“They sent a missile through my bedroom window,” he added. “I’ll tell you, they view President Trump as an enormous obstacle. They think that Israel is a very big obstacle, and they’re out to get us both.”
President Trump has consistently called for peace between the two warring nations in a series of Truth Social posts, writing: “Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal.”
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have all been proponents of President Trump avoiding foreign entanglements under the “America First” banner.
“The real divide isn’t between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers. Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson. At some point they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now,” Carlson wrote in a Friday X post.
Speaking on President Trump’s response to the Israeli-Iran airstrikes, Paul stated: “Well, his initial response was, game on. And I don’t consider war to be a game, the hundreds of thousands of people that potentially will now die on both sides.”
“I think it’s going to be very hard to come out of this and have a negotiated settlement. I see more war and more carnage, and it’s not the U.S.’s job to be involved in this war,” he continued. “Iraq was a mess, Afghanistan was a mess. And one of the things I like about President Trump is he has shown restraint. And so I think his instincts are to not be involved in this war, but there will be a lot of pressure from Lindsey Graham and others to get involved in this War, and I hope that his instincts will prevail.”
Meanwhile, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has been a major proponent of the United States supporting Israel’s offensive airstrikes against Iran, arguing that it is “in America’s national security interest to go all-in.”
“I applaud President Trump for urging Iran back to the negotiating table, in order to end the regime’s nuclear ambitions through diplomacy, avoiding further bloodshed,” Graham began.
“However, if Iran refuses this offer, I strongly believe it is in America’s national security interest to go all-in to help Israel finish the job. One of the benefits of this approach is that it would substantially undo the damage done to our reputation by Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan,” he continued.
“If diplomacy fails, going all-in for Israel shows that America is back as a reliable ally and a strong force against oppression. It would strengthen our hand in all corners of the world, as well as all other conflicts we face,” Graham added.
Additionally, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon, which is Israel’s justification for launching the air-raids against the Iranian nuclear facilities.
Speaking in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard stated that the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
Gabbard also noted that Iran has expanded its uranium stockpile at extreme levels for a nation without nuclear weapons.
“Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons,” she added.
