Reuters Revealed The Conversation After Which Trump Went To War With Iran
- 23.03.2026, 23:54
Prior to this conversation, the US president was not sure about the attack.
About 48 hours before the start of the US-Israeli military operation against Iran, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called and discussed intelligence about former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's vulnerability to a "decapitation strike." This was reported by Reuters, citing sources.
The agency writes that the call had not been previously reported. Both Trump and Netanyahu knew from intelligence briefings that Iran's supreme leader and his key associates would soon meet at his residence in Tehran.
According to three sources familiar with the phone call, Netanyahu, determined to carry out an operation he has long called for, told Trump that there may never be a better opportunity to assassinate Khamenei and avenge previous Iranian attempts to remove Trump. In early March, Trump said Iranian authorities had twice tried to assassinate him.
By the time of the phone call, Trump had already approved a U.S. military operation against Iran but had not yet decided when and under what circumstances U.S. forces would intervene, the agency's sources said.
The conversation with Netanyahu, Reuters wrote, was the Israeli prime minister's final argument to the U.S. leader. Three sources with knowledge of the conversation believe it - along with intelligence about a narrowing window of opportunity to take out the Iranian leader - was the catalyst for Trump's final decision to order the military on Feb. 27 (Feb. 28 Mins) to launch Operation Epic Fury.
After a 12-day war against Iran in the summer of 2025, the Israelis began planning to strike Iran again. However, the country's Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said Israel initially planned to act alone, Reuters writes. Two sources familiar with the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu said that during a December visit to Mar-a-Lago, the Israeli prime minister told Trump that he was not fully satisfied with the outcome of the joint operation in June. The US president, in turn, signaled that he was open to a new bombing campaign but wanted another round of diplomatic talks first, the agency wrote.
By the end of February, many US officials and regional diplomats considered a US attack on Iran likely, Reuters' interlocutors said. Two sources said Trump was told in briefings about the benefits of an attack, including destroying Iran's missile program. Before Netanyahu's call, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told congressional leaders that Israel would likely attack Iran with a retaliatory strike on U.S. targets, the three sources said. They added that behind the warning was an intelligence assessment of the risks to US and allied facilities in the Persian Gulf.
The US and Israeli operation against Iran began in late February. Khamenei was killed in the early days of the conflict in an airstrike on his residence. Several members of the supreme leader's family were also killed in the strike. Khamenei was later succeeded by his son Mojtaba. He was also injured in a strike on the Supreme Leader's residence at the beginning of the war. At the same time, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said he was "fine."
Trump has repeatedly expressed doubts about whether Khamenei Jr. is alive. At the same time, the US president has refused to confirm whether a hunt for Iran's new leader has been announced.