Netanyahu called Trump on February 23. The prime minister said that Khamenei will meet in Tehran with his high-ranking advisers at the same time – on Saturday morning. The Israeli prime minister reportedly told Trump: they can all be killed in one devastating raid — three sources said.
Who spoke on February 23?
What were the reasons for delaying the attack on Iran?
When did the final decision to attack take place?
How many times did Trump and Netanyahu talk before the attack?
The website noted that this answers the question of politicians, world leaders and skeptics of this decision from the Trump supporters (MAGA) community, why the attack was carried out now. Trump and Netanyahu did not want to miss such an opportunity, Axios reported.
Behind the scenes of the attack on Iran. “The conversation started the war”
The US president had already been leaning towards striking Iran, but was hesitant on the timing. This changed after a call from Netanyahu.
As representatives of the US and Israeli authorities point out, the February 23 telephone conversation is part of months of intense coordination between the two leaders. In the two months before the attack on Iran, the leaders met twice and spoke by phone 15 times.
USA and Israel were considering launching an attack a week earlier, but the operation was postponed for operational and intelligence reasons, as well as due to bad weather.
At Trump's request, after Monday's conversation, the CIA initially confirmed Israel's intelligence on Khamenei. Preparations gained momentum when Trump told Netanyahu he would consider taking further action. But first, the president was scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday evening.
Final decision to attack in the Middle East
American officials said Trump decided not to focus too much on Iran so as not to scare the ayatollah, who could hide from the attack.
Until Thursday CIA “has fully confirmed that all these people are going to be together and that we have to take advantage of that” — the source said. That day, Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner called the president from Geneva, where they were talking to Iran, and admitted that the negotiations were going nowhere.
— If you choose diplomacy, we will push and fight for an agreement. But these people have shown that they are not willing to make a deal that will satisfy you, Trump was quoted as saying.
At this point, Trump was already convinced that the intelligence was reliable and that diplomacy would not work. On Friday at At 3:38 p.m. EST, he gave his final order.
11 hours later, bombs fell on Tehran, Khamenei was killed and the war began – Axios emphasized.
