Killing Khamenei will end conflict: Netanyahu

Killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would bring an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today (16 June)

"It's not going to escalate the conflict, it's going to end the conflict," Netanyahu said about plans to take out the Iranian leader in an interview with ABC News.

He made the remarks in response to a question from ABC News' chief correspondent in Washington regarding reports that former US President Donald Trump had rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader, fearing it would escalate the conflict.

Asked if Israel would indeed target the supreme leader, Netanyahu said that Israel was "doing what we need to do."

"I'm not going to get into the details, but we've targeted their top nuclear scientists," Netanyahu said. "It's essentially Hitler's nuclear team."

He added that it is in the United States' interest to support Israel in its efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear programme.

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters.

"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.

Trump has been holding out hope for a resumption of U.S.-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, Tehran has asked Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to press US President Donald Trump to use his influence on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Iran in return for Iranian flexibility in nuclear negotiations.