Katz: Netanyahu set goal of killing Khamenei in November; Iran protests accelerated US-Israel strike plans

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set the goal of assassinating Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Khamenei in November, Defense Minister Israel Katz says in an interview with Channel 12 news aired this evening.

“Already in November, we held discussions with the prime minister in a very small forum. The prime minister set the objective: to eliminate Khamenei,” Katz tells the Hebrew network.

“In consultation with the IDF and the Mossad, the target date was ultimately set for the middle of the current year, around June — to carry this out,” he continues.

At that stage, Israel did not share its plans with Washington, Katz says. “We prepared under the assumption that we might have to carry it out on our own,” he says, but soon after, “a kind of dialogue” began between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump on the matter.

Israel and the United States were then taken aback when protests erupted across Iran late last year, Katz adds, claiming that this created a concern within Israel that the domestic unrest may provoke the regime to launch a preemptive strike on Israel, before Israel could take advantage of the strategic window.

“It surprised everyone. The unrest didn’t just create an opportunity — there was also serious concern at the time that, because of the pressure on the regime from the protests, the regime might launch a preemptive missile strike on Israel and on American forces in the region.

At that time, discussion about toppling the regime “came up” between Washington and Jerusalem, and the two sides reached an agreement “on cooperation in defining the objectives,” and began talking about “creating the conditions for the Iranian people to begin acting to overthrow the regime — we began advancing those objectives.”

From that moment, “There was joint planning, and afterward a joint operational planning process,” Katz says.

“And I think the only person in the world, the only leader who could have created such cooperation with President Trump, is Benjamin Netanyahu,” he adds.

Katz insists that neither Israel nor the US dragged the other into attacking Iran, insisting that decisions were made independently in light of the perceived threats posed by the Islamic Republic.