WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. knows where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is hiding during the Israel-Iran conflict but doesn’t want him killed “for now.”
Trump urged, in a social media posting, Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” as the five-day conflict continues to escalate.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump added. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
Trump’s increasingly muscular comments toward the Iranian government come after he urged Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his participation in an international summit to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.
The comments about Khamenei and calls for surrender came shortly after Trump in a separate posting touted complete control of the skies over Tehran.
Trump in the opening days of the conflict rejected a plan presented by Israel to kill Khamenei, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to comment on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Israelis had informed the Trump administration that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei. But White House officials informed the Israelis that Trump opposed such a move. Administration officials were concerned that the plan to kill Khamenei could enflame the conflict and potentially destabilize the region.
Trump returned to the White House from his abbreviated trip to the Group of Seven summit in the Canadian Rockies early Tuesday at a moment of choosing in his presidency.
Israel, with five days of missile strikes, has done considerable damage to Iran and believes it can now deal a permanent blow to Tehran’s nuclear program — particularly if it gets a little more help from the Republican president.
In comments to Baptist Press over the weekend, Ethics & Religious Liberty President Brent Leatherwood expressed Southern Baptist support for Israel’s efforts.
“For years, leaders and experts have been warning that the Iranian regime was inching closer to having the capability to wage nuclear war,” Leatherwood said. “Such a reality would constitute an existential threat for Israel.”
“Southern Baptists have long stood with Israel in supporting its right to exist and its right. To defend itself. And, as we do so, pray for peace and stability in the region, and that innocent lives would be spared in this conflict.”
Trump, as he made his way back to Washington, expressed frustration with Iranian leaders for failing to reach an agreement. He said he was now looking for “a real end” to the conflict and a “complete give-up” of Tehran’s nuclear program.
“They should have done the deal. I told them, ‘Do the deal,'” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “So I don’t know. I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate.”
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb.
Trump, who was holding a Situation Room meeting with advisers on Tuesday, has been gradually building the public case for a more direct American role in the conflict. His shift in tone comes as the U.S. has repositioned warships and military aircraft in the region to respond if the conflict between Israel and Iran further escalates.
Meanwhile, the State Department created a special task force to assist Americans seeking to leave Israel and other Mideast countries, although no government evacuations are currently planned. There are some 700,000 Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, now in Israel and thousands more in other Mideast countries, including Iran.
Trump made an early departure from G7
The White House announced Monday that Trump was cutting his participation in the G7 summit so he could return to Washington to focus his attention on the Mideast crisis. Trump, while at the summit, also raised alarms when he urged Iranians with a social media posting to “immediately evacuate Tehran.”
Asked about his evacuation comment, Trump told reporters: “I just want people to be safe.”
Trump said he wasn’t ruling out a diplomatic option and he could send Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with the Iranians.
He also dismissed congressional testimony from National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who told lawmakers in March that U.S. spy agencies did not believe Iran was building a nuclear weapon.
“I don’t care what she said,” Trump said. “I think they were very close to having it.”
So far, Israel has targeted multiple Iranian nuclear program sites but has not been able to destroy Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility.
The site is buried deep underground — and to eliminate it, Israel may need the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. But Israel does not have the munition or the bomber needed to deliver it — the penetrator is currently delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber.
Israel’s own defenses remain largely intact in the face of Iran’s retaliatory strikes, but some of Tehran’s missiles are getting through and having deadly impact.
From The Associated Press. May not be republished. AP writers Josh Boak, Tara Copp, David Klepper, Matthew Lee, Darlene Superville and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
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