President Donald Trump’s decision to carry out yesterday’s strike on Iran followed weeks of behind-the-scenes appeals from Israeli and Saudi leaders, The Washington Post reported, citing four individuals familiar with the discussions.
According to those sources, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held several private conversations with Trump over the past month urging the United States to take military action against Iran, despite publicly promoting diplomacy as the preferred path.
At the same time, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu continued speaking out in favor of American strikes, describing Iran as an existential threat to Israel, the Post reported.
Reuters previously reported, based on US sources, that Israel and the United States coordinated the timing of the attack to align with a meeting convened by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and his top advisers.
Khamenei was killed in the operation, along with other senior Iranian figures, including Ali Shamkhani, the former secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Two Iranian sources told Reuters that shortly before the strikes commenced on Saturday, Khamenei met in a secure location with Shamkhani and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani.
A US source indicated that the meeting had initially been scheduled for Motzoei Shabbos in Tehran. However, after Israeli intelligence identified a gathering taking place Shabbos morning, the timing of the attack was advanced, according to the sources.
{Matzav.com}
