New Delhi, June 27 -- Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Thursday that his country would have killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were it possible during the 12-day war. But "it wasn't realistic in the end," he said.

"I estimate that if Khamenei had been in our sights, we would have taken him out," Katz said in the interview with Israel's Kan public television.

"But Khamenei understood this, went underground to very great depths, and broke off contacts with the commanders who replaced those commanders who were eliminated, so it wasn't realistic in the end," Katz was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Katz reportedly reiterated that Israel actively searched for Khamenei throughout the war.

"We searched a lot," h...