A single phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to US President Donald Trump may be responsible for what is happening in the Middle East today, according to a new Axios report.
Last Monday, Netanyahu called Trump with a tip that reshaped the world – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his top officials were to gather in one place on Saturday morning.
According to the Axios report, which cited three people familiar with the call, Bibi informed Trump that a single airstrike on the site could take them all out at once.
This challenge became a key moment in the initiation of the war in Iran, which has since spread to several countries in the Persian Gulf.
The report of the call answers long-standing questions about why Trump and Israel attacked Iran now — Khamenei and his associates had long been targeted by both nations and simply could not afford to miss the opportunity.
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Trump wanted to strike earlier
The Axios report claimed that Donald Trump had long wanted to attack Iran even before learning of the new intelligence about Khamenei — but he didn’t know when until Netanyahu called.
The February 23 call was part of months of intensive coordination between the two leaders. Trump and Bibi spoke by phone 15 times and met twice in two months, Israeli officials said.
Trump and Israel wanted to strike a week earlier than Saturday, but had to delay due to intelligence and also weather.
What led to the attack?
After receiving a call from Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump ordered an initial CIA review that confirmed the authenticity of the intelligence. This hastened the preparations. Trump deliberately refrained from mentioning Iran at length in his State of the Union address so as not to alert the Ayatollah and his associates.
By Thursday, the CIA had “confirmed that these people will all be together, and we have to take advantage of that,” Axios reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
That same day, Trump’s emissaries Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff told him that the Iran negotiations were hitting roadblocks.
“If you decide you want to do diplomacy, we’re going to push and fight to get a deal. But these guys showed us they weren’t willing to make a deal you’re going to be happy with,” a US official with direct knowledge of the matter told Trump, Axios reported.
Trump was now convinced of two things – he had solid intelligence and Iran was not relenting on the diplomacy front.
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Eleven hours later, Tehran was rocked by bombings that killed Khamenei and other top Iranian officials.
On February 28, the US and Israel carried out coordinated airstrikes on several Iranian cities, targeting military command centers, air defense systems, missile bases and key regime infrastructure.
This led to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and four senior military and security officials, with large explosions reported in Tehran and other major cities.
The war has since escalated, with Iran targeting major US bases in Gulf countries including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. It also closed the key Strait of Hormuz, blocking a major oil route.
Key things
- Strategic intelligence can greatly influence military decisions.
- Coordination between US and Israeli leadership can change the geopolitical landscape.
- Diplomatic negotiations may fail and lead to military action as an alternative.
