Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave President Donald Trump key information about Iranian leaders’ whereabouts ahead of Saturday’s strikes, according to a new report.
The U.S. and Israel launched a series of coordinated attacks on Iran early Saturday, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials. Trump has since said the military campaign was projected to last four or five weeks, but that it could go “far longer.”
Now, Axios reports that Netanyahu called Trump on Monday, Feb. 23, and told him that Khamenei, along with other top Iranian officials, were planning to meet in a single location on Saturday morning in Tehran. The CIA reportedly confirmed the intelligence by Thursday.
The president was already considering strikes on Iran, but the phone call helped determine the timeline, according to Axios. Trump, who had wanted to exhaust diplomacy first, was also told Thursday that negotiations with Iranian officials in Geneva weren’t going anywhere, according to the outlet.
According to Axios, a U.S. official told Trump Thursday: "If you decide you want to do diplomacy, we will push and fight to get a deal. But these guys showed us they weren't willing to make the deal you will be satisfied with.”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine confirmed that Trump gave the order to carry out the strikes Friday afternoon.
“At 15:38, 3:38 p.m., on Friday, February 27, the United States Central Command, through the Secretary of War, received the final go order from President Trump,” Caine said Monday. “The president directed, and I quote, ‘Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck.’”
When asked about Trump’s call with Netanyahu, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the information was “important” to the timeline.
“I think it was important with respect to the timeline, but I think the president, prior to that phone call, had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike United States assets and our personnel in the region,” Leavitt said Wednesday.
Trump told reporters Tuesday he believed Iran was going to strike first and rejected suggestions Israel had forced his hand.
“We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first,” Trump said. “They were going to attack if we didn't do it. They were going to attack first, I felt strongly about that.”
“So if anything, I might have forced Israel's hand. But Israel was ready and we were ready,” he added.
The timeline of the attack also impacted the White House’s response, the outlet reports. An official told Axios the opportunity for the strike “came on us so fast” that they “didn’t make the case in advance as well as we could have.”
The Axios report also claimed an alternative timeline could have seen strikes being carried out in late March or early April, but Netanyahu had pushed to move it up. A U.S. official reportedly said Netanyahu was “agitating,” and had warned that Iranian opposition leaders were in danger.
Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, denied the claim that Netanyahu had been “agitating” or had raised the threat to Iranian opposition leaders as a reason for accelerating, according to Axios.
“Over the past year, we have worked more closely than ever with our partners in the United States regarding Iran, and we see eye to eye on the danger Iran poses to Israel, to the United States, and to the free world," Leiter told the outlet.
The Independent has contacted the Embassy of Israel for comment. The Pentagon referred The Independent to the White House when reached for comment, and the The White House referred The Independent to Leavitt’s comments.
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