US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told reporters in Jerusalem that their surprise attacks on Iranian nuclear sites in June helped save the West from attack.
On June 14, one day after Israel's surprise attacks, a small meeting of security cabinet ministers heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say that war goals included eliminating Khamenei.
Others included striking the Fordow nuclear facility, to set fuel depots in Tehran on fire, and work toward killing officials who had replaced assassinated officials targeted in the overnight attacks sparking the 12-day war.
The goal to target the supreme leader was echoed among Netanyahu's government, with controversial right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich telling ministers that Israel must “keep searching for the leader".
At the end of June, Israel Katz, Israel's defense minister, told Hebrew media that the military had hoped to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader.
“If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” he told Channel 13, adding that Israel “searched a lot” for Khamenei but that the operational opportunity did not appear during the bloody conflict that saw over 1,100 Iranians killed and thousands more injured.
The transcripts, set to be broadcast in full Tuesday with an accompanying Netanyahu interview, also detail Israeli hopes that US President Donald Trump would order strikes on Iran’s fortified Fordow nuclear facility, which was indeed later bombed by the US along with Natanz and Isfahan.
‘A historic moment’
According to the newly revealed information, on the eve of the war, Netanyahu argued Iran was “getting close to being the second-biggest powerhouse on ballistic missiles” and said Israel’s opening attack on June 13 could reshape later negotiations.
At the June 12 bunker meeting, he said that Iran already had enough enriched material for “eight to nine bombs” and was advancing on weaponization. “If we don’t act, we simply won’t be here,” he said.
The plan called for destroying the Natanz nuclear facility, targeting nuclear scientists, and striking conversion sites that could turn enriched uranium into bomb cores.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir praised the opening strikes on June 13 as “extraordinary achievements” and said Iran had responded with fewer missile launches than expected.
US support critical to target Fordow
Transcripts reveal an unnamed official cautioning that Fordow could be destroyed “only if the US attacks it,” given the site’s depth under mountainous terrain requiring the specialist bunker-busting bombers that only the US had.
During a call with US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu “pushed and maneuvered” for American refueling planes to support Israeli attacks and a potential strike on Fordow, the transcripts reveal.
Katz said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told him refueling support was being prepared.
The transcripts also show Netanyahu's right-wing ministers pressing for tougher action on Iran. Katz argued for targeting Iran’s state broadcaster and secret police, while Shas party leader Aryeh Deri urged killing officers replacing those already struck.
Iran eventually fired over 500 ballistic missiles and 1,100 drones, killing 31 in Israel and wounding more than 3,000. More than 13,000 Israelis were displaced after homes, universities and a hospital were struck.
Channel 13 said its full feature Tuesday will include further transcripts, including pressure on Trump to bomb Fordow and information about Iran’s strike on Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
They pledged unity and opposition to Iran as diplomatic calls intensify to end a new Israeli offensive in Gaza against Iran-backed Hamas fighters and blessed a European initiative to restore United Nations sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear activities.
"(Iran) chanted, 'Death to America, Death to Israel.' To achieve Death to America, they have to achieve first death to Israel, because we are America's front line here," Netanyahu said.
"They began to race to the bomb ... and so they began to work secretly to activate their weaponization team," Netanyahu said without citing any publicly available evidence. "We knew that if we didn't act within a year they'd have one atomic bomb, possibly two."
Israel launched a 12-day war in June which killed Iranian nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians, capped off with US bombings of three key nuclear sites.
31 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier were killed in Iranian counterattacks.
'Change course'
The joint appearance came as the US-Israeli posture on a post-war Iran remained unclear. US President Donald Trump said the attacks had 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear program and has been ambivalent about the need for further diplomacy.
European powers have urged renewed talks to end the nuclear standoff once and for all, while Israel continues to moot attacks on its foe while Iran remains defiant.
Rubio said the threat from Iran extended beyond Israel to the Persian Gulf and beyond, adding that missiles Tehran sought to build could have reached Europe.
He added that if the Islamic Republic does not "change course," the administration will continue to apply "maximum pressure" sanctions.
Britain, France and Germany last month triggered the so-called snapback mechanism enshrined in a partly lapsed 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran to restore international sanctions within 30 days over Iran's alleged non-compliance.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb or threatening the West and labels the sanctions move diplomatic blackmail aimed at its sovereignty. Tehran has threatened to halt cooperation with UN nuclear inspectors advanced by an interim deal with the inspectors last week if the sanctions move goes ahead.
Rubio said he supported the European initiative "100%" and that Iran had obviously violated its nuclear obligations.
Israel is continuing a push to overrun Gaza City to crush Hamas fighters there and release hostages - a campaign which has drawn criticism from the United Nations and rights groups but is supported by Washington.
Netanyahu said that military successes over Iran did not void the need for an Israeli victory in Gaza.
"We acted like somebody who has two lumps of cancer. One lump is the atomic cancer, the specter of atomic bombs, and the second one is the specter of 20,000 ballistic missiles, one ton ballistic missiles that fall Mach six to Mach eight right from the sky," he said.
"We were fighting not only our enemies. We were fighting your enemies, and now we're circling back to Gaza to finish the job where it all began."
