Israel Katz, Defense Minister of Israel, has disclosed that they would have eliminated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, during the peak of the conflict between the two nations if the opportunity had arisen.
“If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” Katz told Israel’s public radio station, Kan, on Thursday evening. He added that the military had “searched a lot.”
Katz mentioned that Iran’s Supreme leader was aware of the threat and went into deep hiding. “He went very deep underground, broke off contact with the commanders… so in the end, it wasn’t realistic,” he said.
Speaking later to Channel 13, he said that Israel had halted its assassination attempts following the ceasefire. “There is a difference between before the ceasefire and after the ceasefire,” he explained.
During the war, the defence minister had declared that Khamenei “can no longer be allowed to exist,” a statement that followed reports suggesting the U.S. had vetoed Israeli plans to target him.
Katz also issued a warning on Kan: “He should stay inside a bunker. He should learn from the late Nasrallah,” referencing former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a Beirut airstrike in September 2024.
Khamenei’s movements have long been shrouded in secrecy, and he has not left Iran since assuming power. Katz emphasized that Israel retains aerial superiority over Iran and remains prepared to act again. “We won’t let Iran develop nuclear weapons or threaten us with long-range missiles,” he said.
In an interview with Channel 12, Katz admitted that Israel does not know the exact locations of all of Iran’s enriched uranium. However, he insisted that Israeli airstrikes had significantly damaged Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities.
“The material itself wasn’t what we were targeting,” he said. “But the infrastructure needed to process it has been hit hard.”
The effectiveness of Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program remains a subject of debate. A leaked U.S. intelligence report estimated that Iran’s program had been set back by only a few months, while Israeli and American officials claimed the damage could take years to repair.
The 12-day conflict between the two countries ended with a ceasefire on June 24, with both sides claiming victory.
