'Look up and listen to every buzz': Israel's Katz threatens Iran's Khamenei

Israeli minister presses on with belligerent rhetoric from June war

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has previously referred to Iran's supreme leader as a 'modern Hitler'. AFP

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, known for his belligerent rhetoric, has renewed threats against Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who he threatened to assassinate during the 12-day war between the two foes in June.

“I suggest to Iranian dictator Khamenei that when he leaves his bunker, he occasionally lift his eyes to the sky and listen carefully to every buzz,” Mr Katz said in a post on X, referring to Israeli drone activity.

The threat came in response to what he said was Iranian propaganda, after a Hebrew-language graphic was circulated allegedly by Iran, showing Israeli officials including the minister as assassination targets. The graphic included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The graphic resembles templates used by the Israeli military to announce the killings of senior Iranian officials during the war. It is unclear where it originated from and how widely circulated it was in Iran before Mr Katz shared it in his post on X.

“Participants of the Red Wedding are waiting for him,” Mr Katz told Mr Khamenei, using the Israeli codename of the large-scale operation on June 13 that opened the war with Iran and killed several senior Iranian officials.

The name was inspired by a brutal scene from the TV series Game of Thrones, in which some of the main characters were killed in a surprise attack. On the first day of the war, Israel killed several top Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists in surprise attacks.

The Israeli minister was vocal about killing Mr Khamenei throughout the war, which ended after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire. Mr Katz referred to the ayatollah as a “modern Hitler”.

In late June, he told Israeli media that the army had tried to kill Mr Khamenei during the war but, despite searching for him, the opportunity did not arise. “If he had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” he said at the time.

Over the course of the war, Mr Trump also threatened Mr Khamenei. “We know exactly where the so-called supreme leader is hiding,” he said on Truth Social, describing the Ayatollah as an “easy target”. The US President later changed his rhetoric and said regime change was not an objective.

In a symbolic response to those threats, senior Shiite clerics in Iran issued fatwas in June declaring that “any individual or regime” threatening the Islamic republic’s leadership and religious authority is guilty of “moharebeh” − a term in Sharia that means waging war against God.