“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do, we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” a senior US administration official told Reuters. The official further claimed that Israel had an opportunity to assassinate Khamenei, but Trump rejected the plan.
The officials did not confirm whether Trump directly spoke with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the matter.Netanyahu dismisses reports
Netanyahu, however, dismissed such media reports, stating that there are many incorrect reports of “conversations that never happened.”
Read more: Israel Iran war LIVE updates: Israel’s Defense Minister warns Tehran residents will ‘pay price’ for attacks
“There’s so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that,” Netanyahu told Fox News Channel in an interview.
“But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States,” Reuters cited Netanyahu as saying.
Iran rejects ceasefire negotiations
Iran has conveyed to the regional mediators, Oman and Qatar, that it will not consider ceasefire discussions with Israel while military conflict continues.
According to an official, who told Reuters on the condition of anonymity, Iran said that serious negotiations will only commence once Tehran concludes its military response to Israeli aggression.
“The Iranians informed Qatari and Omani mediators that they will only pursue serious negotiations once Iran has completed its response to the Israeli pre-emptive strikes,” the official told Reuters on Sunday (June 15).
“Iran made clear that it will not negotiate while under attack,” he added.
Read more: Donald Trump says Israel, Iran may need to ‘fight it out’ before deal
The official also dismissed media reports suggesting Iran had urged Qatar and Oman to engage the US in brokering a ceasefire or restarting the stalled nuclear talks. These claims are “inaccurate” as per the Iranian official.
Qatar and Oman as mediators
Both Qatar and Oman have been playing the role of diplomatic intermediaries in the West Asian region for a long time now. This holds for the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict as well, where the two countries, along with Saudi Arabia and Egypt have mediated for peace. Both countries have maintained diplomatic ties with Iran, Israel, and the US.
Oman recently hosted back-channel nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran, though the latest round, scheduled for June 15, was called off after Israel began its airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, as per AP. Qatar had been involved in negotiations between the US and Afghanistan’s Taliban as well.
Iran-Israel war escalation
Tensions escalated sharply after Israel carried out a surprise offensive in the early hours of June 13, which targeted and killed senior Iranian military officials and damaged the key nuclear infrastructure of the country. Israel has indicated that its operations are likely to intensify in the coming days.
Iran also retaliated by launching missiles at Tel Aviv, with Iranian officials declaring that they will “open the gates of hell” which could lead to the biggest military confrontation between the two countries. Both countries have intensified their attacks in civilian areas, destroying residential buildings and killing many people.
Esmaeil Baqaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that in just three days of the conflict, Israeli strikes have killed around 73 women and children, calling out Israel’s claim that the “surgical strikes” are only targeting Iran’s military infrastructure. Official confirmation on the death toll in Israel as of yet could not be verified.
