US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei since Operation Rising Lion began, two unidentified US officials told Reuters on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Trump stated that "it's possible we could get involved" in the military escalation between Israel and Iran during an interview with ABC News the same day.

During Trump's comments, he reiterated that the US is "not at this moment involved" in the conflict.

Trump also remains open to Russian President Vladimir Putin taking a role as a mediator between Jerusalem and Tehran, saying, "He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it."

This followed a 50-minute phone conversation between Trump and Putin on Saturday, with Trump saying on Truth Social that Putin feels, as he does, that the war between Israel and Iran should end.

Kremlin insider Kirill Dmitriev said that he believed Russia could play a “key role” in mediations between Iran and Israel, Russia's state news agency TASS reported.

A photograph Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted from his underground war room on Saturday night prominently featured a copy of Target Tehran, a 2023 book by Jerusalem Post defense analyst Yonah Jeremy Bob and former editor Ilan Evyatar. (credit: GPO)
A photograph Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted from his underground war room on Saturday night prominently featured a copy of Target Tehran, a 2023 book by Jerusalem Post defense analyst Yonah Jeremy Bob and former editor Ilan Evyatar. (credit: GPO)

'Make the Middle East great again!'

Meanwhile, Iran and Israel "should make a deal, and will make a deal," US President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.

Trump compared his plan for a deal between Iran and Israel to a deal arranged between India and Pakistan, which he claimed to arrange by "using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!"

"Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK. the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!" he added.

Trump also claimed that he was able to prevent war between Serbia and Kosovo during his first term in office, adding that former president Joe Biden "hurt the longer-term prospects with some very stupid decisions, but I will fix it, again!"

Trump also used the examples of how he claimed to intervene to negotiate between Egypt and Ethiopia's concerns over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Previous statements made by Trump since Operation Rising Lion began

Trump told Reuters in a phone interview on Friday that he and his team had known that Israel's airstrikes as part of Operation Rising Lion were coming, and still saw room for an accord.

Trump insisted earlier on Sunday in a separate post to Truth Social that the US “had nothing to do with the attack on Iran tonight,” distancing Washington from Israel’s widening Operation Rising Lion while threatening Tehran with “force never seen before” if it strikes American targets.