Israel-Iran tensions: Over 230 killed; Trump foils Tel Aviv's plan to assassinate Khamenei
Israel and Iran traded air strikes for a third consecutive day after Tel Aviv launched a massive surprise attack on Tehran that killed its top military officials, senior scientists and more than 60 civilians, including 20 children on June 13. Israel's renewed attacks on Iran on Saturday struck the country's oil reserves and hit population centres in Tehran, raising the death toll to 224, which included the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)'s intelligence organisation, Mohammad Kazemi, and two other generals. Iran has retaliated with missile attacks, hitting the center of Tel Aviv and causing havoc in residential suburbs, killing 14 people and wounding 390 others.
Israel has said that the attacks were pre-emtive to stop Iran from developing a nuclear program. Israel is the sole but undeclared nuclear-armed state in the Middle East. The surprise attacks came days before scheduled talks between U.S. and Iran on the future of Tehran's nuclear program, which has been cancelled in the wake of Israeli strikes.
Trump nixed Israel's plans to assassinate Khamenei: US official
In an indication of how far Israel was seemingly prepared to go in its recent conflict with Iran, a U.S. official told The Associated Press that President Donald Trump nixed Tel Aviv's plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and controls the powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Trump calls for a deal between Iran, Israel; says US 'not involved' at the moment
US President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Iran and Israel to "make a deal," and stressed he would be able to mediate talks between the warring sides.
The statement came hours after in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, he sought to distance US from Israel's attacks on Iran.
"The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight. If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!" he wrote.
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