Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said in a televised interview Wednesday night that Israel had been prepared to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but never had a viable opportunity. “If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” Katz told Channel 13. “We wanted to eliminate Khamenei, but there was no operational opportunity.” The comments mark the first public confirmation that the Israeli war cabinet seriously considered targeting Iran’s highest-ranking figure — a move that would have shattered diplomatic norms, likely triggered a regional war, and tested the outer limits of U.S.-Israeli coordination. Katz’s remarks came amid growing confidence in Jerusalem following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and military command centers, operations that Israeli officials say have “pushed back” Iran’s nuclear timeline by years and decapitated key leadership nodes in the Islamic Republic’s weapons program. Asked whether Jerusalem sought American approval before considering a strike on Khamenei, Katz didn’t hesitate: “We don’t need permission for these things.” While U.S. officials have repeatedly stressed the importance of avoiding “escalatory” moves that could derail diplomacy or ignite full-scale war, Katz’s comments suggest Israel’s red lines are broader and far more lethal than previously acknowledged. For years, Israel’s intelligence apparatus has engaged in a sprawling covert campaign against Iran’s nuclear program — sabotaging facilities, assassinating scientists, and crippling logistics networks. But targeting the supreme leader himself would represent a seismic shift in both scope and doctrine. Khamenei, who has ruled Iran since 1989, rarely appears in public and is guarded by layers of elite security. U.S. and Israeli officials have long viewed him as the ideological linchpin of Iran’s regional aggression, from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Houthi rebels in Yemen. Sources familiar with recent Israeli targeting protocols say that while Khamenei has never been on an “active kill list,” the unprecedented scale of Operation Rising Lion prompted top-level deliberations about removing regime leadership entirely. In those deliberations, the decision-makers reportedly stopped short not out of moral hesitation, but due to the lack of a tactical window. “Had the opportunity arisen,” one senior IDF officer said, “it would have been a different headline today.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)