Iran’s supreme leader next target? Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ‘not off limits,’ says Israeli official

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

A senior Israeli official told The Wall Street Journal that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is “not off limits,” suggesting he could become a direct target.

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.”

Channel 12 also cited a senior Israeli political source stating that the option remains on the table. “Israel is not ruling out the possibility of eliminating Ali Khamenei, but it depends on many things,” the source said.

The Israeli official quoted by the WSJ said that Israeli strikes have already dealt a blow to heavily fortified Natanz enrichment facility, where structural collapse was reported. Israeli also claimed to have killed at least nine nuclear scientists of the Shi’ite nation.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion against Iran, 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.

Israeli strikes on Iran were reported, where the Israeli military targeted Ministry of Defence headquarters in Tehran as well as an oil depot.

Khamenei meanwhile has vowed retribution. In a televised address, he said, “We will not permit them to evade consequences for this significant wrongdoing they have perpetrated.”