His stay in the United States has attracted controversy in Israel over the cost to taxpayers of providing security, while some residents in south Florida have expressed concern that his presence could make the area a target for attacks by Israel’s enemies.
Shortly after Netanyahu’s remarks became public on Monday, prominent Israeli journalist Amit Segal wrote on his Telegram channel that the alleged assassination attempt had been known for “months” but was subject to a gag order.
Israel killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the opening salvo of US-Israeli strikes on February 28, along with some of his family members.
His son Mojtaba, one of Khamenei’s six children, was named the new supreme leader a week later.
In a message read out on his behalf on state TV, Mojtaba Khamenei said that in addition to his father, he had lost his wife, his sister, her child and his brother-in-law.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since his appointment, and was reportedly wounded in the same strikes that killed his father.
In another message attributed to him and published on the occasion of funeral ceremonies for his father, the new leader pledged to “avenge the blood” of Ali Khamenei.