Trump says US won't kill Iran's supreme leader 'at least not for now'
Donald Trump says Iran's leader is an "easy target" and the US knows where he's hiding - but won't kill him - "at least not for now". It comes on the fifth day of fighting between Iran and Israel.
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00:00Good evening, we start with breaking news and in the last hour Donald Trump has called
00:06for the unconditional surrender of Iran with a veiled threat for the country's supreme
00:11leader saying they know his location but won't take him out, at least not for now.
00:17The president is convening his National Security Council after telling reporters he's looking
00:22for better than a ceasefire and wants a real end to the conflict between Iran and Israel.
00:28We're looking for better than a ceasefire, we're not looking for a ceasefire, I didn't
00:33say I was looking for a ceasefire, that was Emmanuel, nice guy, but he doesn't get it
00:38right too often, but we're not looking, we're looking for better than a ceasefire.
00:43That's just what you're looking to get into this war, you're not going to, well the U.S.
00:46in this conflict, are you going to do anything more for Israel right now?
00:51We're doing pretty well, right now we're doing pretty well.
00:54Remember, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, it's very simple.
00:58You don't have to go too deep into it, they just can't have a nuclear weapon.
01:02What was the thinking on the call for Iran to evacuate?
01:06Is there a threat or is there incoming, what was the thinking on the full evacuation?
01:09I don't know, I just think, I want people to be safe.
01:12And that's always possible, a thing like that could happen.
01:15I just want people to be safe.
01:17Is there any new concern about U.S. troops or assets in the region at all?
01:23You're great people, they know how to protect themselves.
01:26And in the last hour, the President said this on his Truth Social channel.
01:33We know exactly where the so-called Supreme Leader is hiding.
01:37He is an easy target but is safe there.
01:39We're not going to take him out, kill, exclamation mark in brackets, at least not for now.
01:45But we don't want missiles shot at civilians or American soldiers.
01:49Our patience is wearing thin.
01:52And then in another post he said, unconditional surrender.
01:56Well, our U.S. correspondent Mark Stone is in Washington.
02:02Well, Mark, obviously Donald Trump facing a major decision.
02:07Difficult to know really what is going on in the Trump mind right now.
02:11Very, very difficult to know.
02:15But it feels as though it is just one mind that will make up the decision, whatever that may be.
02:22And that is, it's in the head of the President.
02:26He is about to convene a meeting of his National Security Council here at the White House.
02:32We haven't seen any comings and goings yet.
02:35And there is no Marine on the door of the West Wing.
02:38So my assumption is it hasn't yet begun.
02:41But you get a sense of this highest stakes diplomacy that is taking place now over social media.
02:48He is being pretty open about his thoughts.
02:51And those thoughts are ambiguous.
02:54They seem to meander from one side of, you know, maybe there is an option for negotiation.
03:00To the very extreme, we will potentially take out, kill, as you say, the supreme, or as he says, the supreme leader.
03:10So all of this, I think, is intentional.
03:12It is designed to really focus the mind of the leadership in Iran.
03:18It is to keep them guessing.
03:20He believes that he can still get them around the negotiating table as recently as last night.
03:26Again, very intentionally, White House sources were briefing U.S. media.
03:31Axios, in this case, that Steve Wyckoff, the President's Middle East envoy, is prepared and ready to meet the Iranian foreign minister.
03:40But then at the same time, Donald Trump talking about bunker-busting bombs being dropped on Iran's nuclear site.
03:47So that is the sort of backdrop, I guess.
03:50And into that, world leaders don't quite know, I don't think, what the game is, even though they were around a table with Donald Trump just yesterday at the G7, a meeting which he left early.
04:01Again, that, I think, is designed to add jeopardy and a sense of the unknown to what might happen.
04:10He left in a hurry last night, was posting on social media well into the night, and again early this morning.
04:18He left in a hurry.
04:19I was just thinking, what's happening since the pressure was happening?
04:21Hang on down.
04:22Oh, sorry, okay.
04:23The Nicaragua is about the time of the national security.
04:25I've been doing a lot of this, to people who are going to be the Ehud щel.
04:26I came up with a few weeks.
04:27So we're going to join that next week.
04:28It's going to just a couple of weeks.
04:29It's going to be a big thing.
04:30I'm going to turn off this way, let's have a big job.
04:33So we want to do this at the time.
04:34You've got a big job, and I can do it.
04:35I was going to open it up, but it's going to be a big job.
04:37I want to stop this as well.
04:39So please sit down so much of the time to raise your attention.
