United States President Donald Trump has claimed that he spared Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei an “ugly and ignominious death” during the 12-day war with Israel, a day after the latter claimed victory over the US.
In a heavily worded post on TruthSocial, Trump called Khamenei’s claim of victory in the war against Israel a “lie” and added that as a “man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie”.
Trump added that during the United States’ attack on Iran, the country was “decimated”, its three nuclear sites – Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan – were “obliterated”, and that he knew “exactly” where Khamenei was sheltered but did not let Israel and the US armed forces “terminate his life”.
“I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH,” Trump wrote.
“…and he does not have to say, “THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!” he added.
“In fact, in the final act of the War, I demanded that Israel bring back a very large group of planes, which were heading directly to Tehran, looking for a big day, perhaps the final knockout! Tremendous damage would have ensued, and many Iranians would have been killed. It was going to be the biggest attack of the War, by far.”
Trump’s post comes a day after Khamenei made an appearance on Thursday and congratulated his country for victory over the United States and said that America had to enter the war because otherwise, Israel would have been destroyed.
“My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the US regime. The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing,” Khamenei said.
‘Was working on possible removal of sanctions’
According to Trump, after the ceasefire was declared between Israel and Iran, he was working on removing sanctions against the latter to help the country recover faster. However, he said that he stopped working on that after Khamenei’s statement.
“During the last few days, I was working on the possible removal of sanctions, and other things, which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery – The sanctions are BITING! But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,” Trump wrote.
He also said that Iran has to get back into the “world order flow” or things would only get worse for them.
‘Honey’ over ‘Vinegar’
Calling Iran “angry, hostile, and unhappy”, Trump said that these things have only crippled the country militarily and economically. Throwing in a suggestion for Iran, he added that he wishes their leadership understands that more things can be achieved with “honey” than “vinegar”.
“They are always so angry, hostile, and unhappy, and look at what it has gotten them – A burned out, blown up Country, with no future, a decimated Military, a horrible Economy, and DEATH all around them. They have no hope, and it will only get worse! I wish the leadership of Iran would realize that you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR. PEACE!!!” Trump wrote.
What Israel’s defence minister said
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that his country wanted to kill Khamenei during the 12-day war with Iran, however, did not do so due to lack of opportunity.
“I estimate that if Khamenei had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” he told Israel’s Kan public television, according to Reuters.
“But Khamenei understood this, went underground to very great depths, and broke off contacts with the commanders who replaced those commanders who were eliminated, so it wasn’t realistic in the end,” he added.
