Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the American ABC network this evening (Monday) that the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would end the war between Israel and Iran, and not escalate it. In light of reports yesterday that Israel considered assassinating Khamenei over the weekend, Netanyahu did not rule out the possibility in an interview that this would happen later.

Netanyahu in an interview with ABC."The eternal war is what Iran is killing" (Photo: ABC News)

In an interview with ABC, Netanyahu was asked by the network's Jonathan Carle about reports over the weekend that US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran's supreme leader, fearing that it would lead to escalation. Netanyahu responded:"This is not going to escalate the conflict, but to end it. We have gone through half a century of conflict with this regime that terrorizes everyone in the Middle East, bombed the oil fields in Saudi Arabia and spreads terror and sabotage everywhere," Netanyahu said."'Forever war' is what Iran wants, and they are bringing us to the brink of nuclear war. In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing that, putting an end to this aggression, and we can only do that by standing up to the forces of evil."

When asked if Israel would indeed try to harm Khamenei, Netanyahu replied that Israel"will do what it has to do." He added: "I'm not going to go into details, but we harmed their senior nuclear scientists. This is essentially Hitler's nuclear team." In an interview, Netanyahu said that supporting Israel is in the American interest:"Today it's Tel Aviv, tomorrow it's New York. I understand the idea of 'America First' (the flagship idea of Trump and his supporters). What I don't understand is the idea of 'America is dead.' That's what these people want. They (supporters of the Iranian regime) are calling 'Death to America.' So we are doing a service to humanity, it's a struggle of good against evil. The United States should stand on the side of good, and it is doing so. That's what President Trump is doing, and I appreciate it very much."