US President Donald Trump gave the final order for military action against Iran after a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who argued that it was the best time to eliminate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, sources familiar with the discussions said, according to a Reuters report.
Less than 48 hours before the joint US-Israeli attacks against Iran were to begin, Netanyahu called Trump to convince him of the need for such an operation, a complicated war far removed from what the US president had opposed during his political campaigns.
According to sources briefed on intelligence reports, Trump and Netanyahu had received notice that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his close associates would gather at his residence in Tehran, potentially becoming the target of a "decapitation-type attack," aimed at eliminating the leadership of a state.
The meeting was originally scheduled for Saturday night, but new intelligence suggested it was closer to Saturday morning, making the moment even more favorable for a strike.
Netanyahu, who had been seeking such an operation against Iran for decades, argued that there could be no better opportunity to kill Khamenei and avenge Iran's previous attempts to assassinate Trump. One of them was a 2024 plot to assassinate Trump when he was a presidential candidate.
According to sources, at the time of the call, Trump had already approved the idea of a military operation against Iran, but had not yet decided when and under what circumstances the US would become directly involved.
US forces had been increasing their military presence in the region for weeks, leading the administration to believe that a decision to attack was only a matter of time. A possible date had been postponed earlier due to bad weather conditions.
Reuters could not determine exactly how much Netanyahu's arguments influenced Trump's decision, but sources say the phone call and intelligence information about a short-term opportunity to strike the Iranian leader were key factors that prompted the US president to order the military operation on February 27, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury."
According to Netanyahu, eliminating the Iranian leadership could change history and even lead to a popular uprising in Iran against the theocratic system that has governed the country since 1979.
The first bombings began on Saturday morning, February 28, and that same evening Trump announced that Ali Khamenei had died.
