Israel Says Assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader ‘Not Off Limits’, Targets Top Houthi Official

Last Updated:June 15, 2025, 10:34 IST

The official said that the conflict “would only end either with Iran voluntarily dismantling its nuclear program or Israel making it impossible for Tehran to reconstitute it.”

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Image: AFP file)

Amid heightening tensions between Iran and Israel after recent strikes, an Israeli official has hinted that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, could become a direct target.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, a top Israeli official said the assassination of Iran’s top leader is “not off limits." The official said that the conflict “would only end either with Iran voluntarily dismantling its nuclear program or Israel making it impossible for Tehran to reconstitute it."

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Channel 12 also quoted a top Israeli political source as saying that the possibility can’t be ruled out. “Israel is not ruling out the possibility of eliminating Ali Khamenei, but it depends on many things," the source said.

This statement indicated that Israel’s campaign could go well beyond dismantling Iran’s nuclear program and potentially target the Iranian regime’s leadership structure as well.

The Israeli official further said that Israel’s recent strikes have already inflicted “substantial damage", including at the heavily fortified Natanz enrichment facility, where structural collapse was reported.

Additionally, the IDF conducted strikes in Yemen on Saturday night in an attempted targeted attack on senior Houthi military leader, Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari, IDF sources confirmed to the Jerusalem Post.

“We will soon know if it succeeded," an Israeli source told the news outlet.

Iran-Israel Tensions

In a major escalation in the Middle East region, Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion,’ striking at the heart of Iran’s nuclear program on Friday morning. In the initial strikes it killed Iran’s highest-ranking military officer, the head of its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps and its air force and a former national security chief.

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the operation was a “targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival."

Iran launched missiles at targets across Israel, including the port city of Haifa, after Israeli forces bombed civilian and energy infrastructure across Iran.

Early Sunday, Israel’s military announced it had struck the Iranian defence ministry headquarters in Tehran. It also claimed to have hit several locations around the capital that it described as being “related to the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons project."

Amid the continued conflict, planned negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program were cancelled.

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...Read More

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...

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News world Israel Says Assassinating Iran's Supreme Leader ‘Not Off Limits’, Targets Top Houthi Official