Israel's Defence Minister reveals Netanyahu had decided to kill Khamenei in November 2025

Israel has apparently decided to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in November 2025. The decision was taken at a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, on Thursday (5 March 2026).

Katz said the plan was initially scheduled to be carried out about six months later. However, its execution subsequently occurred earlier than planned.

“In November last month, we held a meeting with the prime minister in a highly confidential forum, and the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) set the goal of eliminating Khamenei,” Katz told Israel’s N12 television.

According to Katz, the plan was later shared with Washington and moved forward around January after a wave of protests erupted in Iran. He added that the operation’s timing was originally pegged for mid-2026.

Khamenei was killed in the joint airstrike by the United States and Israel that began on Saturday 28 February 2026. The attack marked the first assassination of a country’s supreme leader through an air strike.

The combined military campaign is now nearing the end of its first weekend. The opening strikes killed several national leaders and triggered an escalation of the regional conflict.

Iran retaliated with attacks on Israeli territory and targets in the Gulf region. At the same time, Israel also launched strikes against Iran’s ally Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Israel argued that the objective of its military operation was to remove existential threats it sees from Iran’s nuclear programme and ballistic missile projects. In addition, Israel aimed to bring about a change of regime in Tehran.

Yet to date, Iran’s leaders have shown no signs of relinquishing power.