MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that one of the goals of the country’s military operation against Iran is the elimination of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Ynet news outlet reported.

According to the media outlet, the Israeli defense chief made this statement from a Tel Aviv suburb where a building was hit by an Iranian missile strike.

"A dictator like Khamenei, who leads a country like Iran and has made the destruction of Israel his goal… <...> We cannot allow the horrifying objective of destroying Israel to be realized," Katz pointed out.

In response to a question about the possible elimination of Khamenei, he said: "The goals of the war include the elimination of the nuclear threat, <...> and the neutralization of the missile threat. The Israel Defense Forces has received orders based on that, and it knows that for these goals to be achieved, this person [Khamenei] must cease to exist."

He compared Khamenei to Adolf Hitler, saying that had Israel and its army existed during World War II, it would have done all it could to eliminate the fuhrer, and now it must do the same. "We would have sent the Israel Defense Forces, we would have gotten him and eliminated him. This is how I see the current situation: Khamenei is the modern-day Hitler," the Israeli defense minister claimed.

Overnight into June 13, Israel launched a military operation against Iran, saying that the goal was to destroy the country’s nuclear and missile programs that the Jewish state saw as "an existential threat." Iran carried out a retaliatory attack in less than 24 hours. Israel and Iran exchanged strikes again in the following days. Both parties reported casualties and admitted damage to a number of facilities. The two countries continue to exchange strikes.