Angry over hospital strike, Israel threatens to kill Khamenei: 'You will pay the price'

Angry over the Iranian missile strike targetting a hospital in Beersheba, Israel has threatened to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Defense Minister Israel Katz told Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes, the first time any Israeli leader has directly threatened to kill the spiritual leader of Iran.

Calling Khamenei a "cowardly Iranian dictator", Katz said "Khamenei will pay for his crimes."

"He sits in the depths of the protected bunker and fires targeted shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel. These are war crimes of the most serious kind. The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against government targets in Tehran to remove threats against the State of Israel."

However, it is still unclear whether Israel has given orders to kill the Supreme Leader. Though Israel has never mentioned it, US President Donald Trump had told reporters that though the US and Israel knew about his whereabouts, they had no plans to kill him.

Khamenei being fed lies?

The Supreme Leader's speech on Wednesday, warning Trump has triggered speculations among Israeli media that Khamenei was being fed lies by the Iranian leadership about the country's state in the war.  

The Supreme Leader warned the US on Wednesday that it would suffer “irreparable damage” if it engages in military action against Iran amid its conflict with Israel. "The Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage," Khamenei said in a televised address, adding that the U.S. entering in this matter [war] is 100% to its own detriment.

A report by The Jerusalem Post said the first instinct of those who watched the video would be to "assume that he is playing a complex game in which he knows how badly Iran is losing this war, but is trying to present a brave face in public". But a more "diabolical explanation" could be that the Supreme Leader was being lied to by some of his top advisers, the report added.

Khamenei does not travel often and relies on a small coterie of advisers for what is actually happening in the world outside of his palaces and command centers.

 

Middle East