KHAMENEI, WHO HAS MADE THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL HIS BANNER, CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE TO EXIST

The Khamenei countdown: Why Israel can wait no longer

The Iranian leader's recent escalation—targeting Israel’s Soroka Medical Center with missiles—crossed a red line. 

 

By Fiamma Nirenstein

 

JNS

Jun 20, 2025

 

 

 

 

When it comes to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed, every option is on the table and Israel will do “what we need to do.”

This echoed a chilling but resolute statement from Israel Katz, the defense minister, who openly vowed to shorten the days of Iran’s leader.

Katz did not speak in vague hypotheticals. His message was targeted and unambiguous: “A dictator like Khamenei, who leads Iran and has made the destruction of Israel his banner, cannot be allowed to continue to exist.”

But this isn’t a new threat. Khamenei’s genocidal intent has been clear for decades. What is new is the strategic shift: a pivot from merely targeting Revolutionary Guard commanders to putting the regime’s core leadership itself in the crosshairs. The gloves are coming off.

Until now, Israel showed restraint, rooted in the Trump administration’s vision for an American-led detente with Tehran, one that might culminate in a nuclear deal. As a result, Israeli and American actions focused on military operatives rather than political decision-makers. But that era is ending.

Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: “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. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”

Israel, meanwhile, never pretended to rely on foreign decisions. Netanyahu has always made clear that while preventing Iran’s nuclear breakout and dismantling its missile capabilities are top priorities, Israel will act if the regime itself poses an existential threat.

That time may now be upon us.

Khamenei, increasingly unmasked, continues to display his defining traits: cruelty, messianic fanaticism and ruthless grip on power. His worldview is apocalyptic: a divine mandate to ignite a final war that ends with the coming of the Mahdi.

In the real world, he is a despotic autocrat who has ruled Iran since 1989, presiding over a regime accused of amassing $57 billion in foreign accounts—for himself and his son Mojtaba, his apparent heir.

His recent escalation—targeting Israel’s Soroka Medical Center with missiles while women gave birth and doctors evacuated cancer patients—crossed a red line. It forced the question: Can the world afford to leave this man at the helm of a regime racing toward nuclear capability?

 

An Iranian ballistic missile strikes Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center on June 19, 2025

 

Israel’s answer is increasingly clear.

This confrontation is the culmination of a decades-long trajectory that has proven one truth: stopping Iran’s nuclear program requires direct confrontation with the regime. Under Khamenei, Iran has produced figures like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ebrahim Raisi—executioners before they were presidents.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has extended its reach into every corner of Iranian life and turned dissent into a capital offense. Women, LGBTQ citizens and minorities have been brutally suppressed, especially after the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini sparked global outrage.

And all the while, Khamenei exported terror abroad. Through Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and proxies embedded across the region, Iran launched rockets, sent cash, and sowed instability—while building its nuclear infrastructure at home.

The so-called “Axis of Resistance” isn’t just an alliance; it’s Khamenei’s vision for Islamic dominance. Periodically, to appease the West, Tehran has offered up “reformist” facades—first Mohammad Khatami and now Masoud Pezeshkian, following Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash. But the reality beneath never changes.

When Israel eliminated Ismail Haniyeh—the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities in Tehran—it marked a turning point. Iran responded with 180 ballistic missiles. That too failed. Hezbollah’s campaigns have stalled. Syria’s bases are shattered. The Houthis, emboldened, are being systematically rolled back. Khamenei’s fortress is cracking.

And yet, what sustains him may be more dangerous than anything: absolute faith in a messianic mission where he and his son are the chosen prophets of global Islamic victory.

But messianism doesn’t shield you from missiles. And prophets don’t get to hold nuclear bombs.

For Israel, the conclusion is as grim as it is clear: a nuclear Iran under Khamenei is not an option. And increasingly, it appears that Trump may agree.

The clock is ticking.