By Enyichukwu Enemanna
In a dramatic step up in rhetoric against Iran’s Supreme Leader, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Washington knows where Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is located but will not kill him “for now”.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump added.
Trump, in another post, appeared to demand Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”, fuelling speculations about whether the United States would join Israel’s attacks on Tehran’s leadership and nuclear facilities.
The US President abruptly ended his participation at the G7 summit in Canada late Monday as the conflict between Iran and key US ally Israel escalated, ahead of his meeting with top officials in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday.
Trump has so far stressed that his country is not getting involved in the conflict between the two countries, stating that Iran could still take a deal to end its nuclear programme that he had proposed before Israel’s attacks.
He has further shown signals that Washington could, in some ways, intervene in the war.
On Tuesday, Trump, who has indicated Washington’s readiness to supply Israel with weapons, said “we” have “complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” hailing the use of US-made weaponry without explicitly mentioning Israel.
Israel, the closest US ally in the Middle East, had recently made a similar claim.
Trump, while returning from the G7 summit in Canada, had said that he wanted “a real end, not a ceasefire” to the Iran-Israel conflict, and warned that “I’m not in too much of a mood to negotiate.”
