Israeli officials say the plan to eliminate Iran’s Supreme Leader was approved months earlier and later accelerated amid unrest, as Israel expands its air campaign across Tehran.
A man holds a poster of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a protest against the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader in joint US-Israeli airstrikes, in Srinagar on March 1, 2026. (Photo: IANS)
Israel had decided months in advance to eliminate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with the plan first approved during a closed security meeting last November, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said.
The disclosure offers the clearest indication yet that the killing was not a sudden battlefield decision but part of a longer strategic calculation by Israel’s leadership. According to officials, the operation’s timeline was later brought forward amid rising tensions and internal unrest in Iran.
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Speaking to N12 News on Thursday, Katz said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set the objective during a restricted security consultation late last year.
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“Already in November we were convened with the prime minister in a very tight forum and the prime minister set the goal of eliminating Khamenei,” Katz said.
The operation had originally been planned for around mid-2026. However, according to The Jerusalem Post, Israel later moved the timeline forward after sharing its strategy with the United States earlier this year.
Katz said Israeli officials feared that pressure on Iran’s clerical leadership could trigger attacks on Israeli or American targets across the Middle East.
Also Read: US-Israel attack plan on Iran DECODED: From DECAPITATION of Khamenei to wider destruction
The strike that killed Khamenei was conducted in the early hours of Operations Roaring Lion and Epic Fury, which began on Saturday.
The attack marked an unprecedented moment in modern conflict as it was the first time the top leader of a sovereign country was killed in an airstrike.
Israel has repeatedly argued that its military campaign is aimed at neutralising what it describes as an “existential threat” from Iran’s ballistic missile programme and nuclear ambitions. Israeli officials have also suggested that the military push may not stop at neutralising immediate threats. Some in the government believe sustained pressure could weaken the leadership in Tehran and potentially trigger wider political shifts inside the country.
Following the initial strike, Israel expanded its operations with fresh air raids across Tehran. The military said the attacks were aimed at facilities linked to Iran’s security and defence network.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had carried out its 12th round of strikes in the Iranian capital, targeting installations connected to the country’s military and internal security apparatus.
Among the sites targeted was the headquarters of a special internal security unit in Alborz province.
In a statement posted on X, the Israeli Air Force said the facility oversees special units across the region and directs the regime’s armed internal security forces.
The strikes also hit facilities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij paramilitary force.
Israeli aircraft additionally struck a central command centre used by Iran’s internal armed security forces, along with multiple locations believed to store or manufacture weapons.
“The IDF continues to deepen the impact on all the mechanisms of the Iranian terror regime in Tehran,” the Israeli Air Force said.
The strikes come amid a rapidly widening conflict in the Middle East.
Following Khamenei’s death, Iran launched waves of drones and missiles targeting American bases and Israeli assets across several Arab countries.
The attacks marked one of the most direct retaliatory moves by Tehran in recent years and signalled the possibility of a wider regional escalation.
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