WP: Israel and Saudi Arabia persuaded Trump to strike Iran
Israel and Saudi Arabia played a key role in US President Donald Trump's decision to launch strikes against Iran, which led to the death of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This was reported by The Washington Post, citing informed sources.
According to four sources interviewed by the publication, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman repeatedly called Trump privately over the past month, urging him to strike Iran. This happened despite Riyadh's public position in support of diplomatic efforts in the negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued his long-running public campaign calling on the United States to attack Iran.
According to the publication, the coordinated actions of Israel and Saudi Arabia contributed to Trump's order for a large-scale air operation against Iran's political and military leadership. In the first minutes of the campaign, the newspaper notes, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed along with several high-ranking Iranian officials.
At the same time, the strikes began despite the assessment of American intelligence, which concluded that Iranian forces were unlikely to pose a direct threat to the continental United States over the next decade.
