Trump Approved Iran Ops After Netanyahu Argued For Joint Killing Of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Report

Last Updated:March 24, 2026, 05:09 IST

Netanyahu argued that there might never be a better chance to kill Khamenei and to avenge previous Iranian efforts to assassinate Trump, as per a report.

US President Donald Trump held a telephonic conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu less than 48 hours before the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, with the latter arguing for a joint killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a report.

Ali Khamenei was killed, along with several top Iranian officials, in the initial salvo of coordinated US-Israeli attacks on February 28. Trump and Netanyahu were aware that Khamenei and his key lieutenants would soon meet at his compound in Tehran, making them vulnerable to a “decapitation strike".

Three people briefed on the Trump-Netanyahu call told Reuters that new intelligence suggested that the meeting was moved forward to Saturday morning from Saturday night. Notably, Israel has generally used ‘decapitation strikes’ against the leadership of a country, but this tactic is rare for the United States.

Netanyahu’s Goals

According to the report, Netanyahu argued that there might never be a better chance to kill Khamenei and to avenge previous Iranian efforts to assassinate Trump. Those included a murder-for-hire plot allegedly orchestrated by Iran in 2024, when Trump was a candidate.

By the time the call took place, Trump had already approved the idea of the United States carrying out a military operation against Iran, but had not yet decided when or under what circumstances the United States would get involved, as per the sources.

The US military had spent weeks building up a presence in the region, prompting many within the administration to conclude it was just a matter of when the president would decide to move forward. The call amounted to the Israeli PM’s closing argument to the US president before the joint strikes to fulfil an operation he has urged for decades.

Netanyahu also told Trump that he could make history by helping eliminate an Iranian leadership long reviled by the West and by many Iranians. He said the Iranian citizens may even take to the streets to overthrow the clerical regime that has ruled the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The three sources briefed on ​the call said they believed it – along with the intelligence showing a closing window to kill Iran’s supreme leader – was a catalyst for Trump’s final decision to order the military on February 27 to move ahead with Operation Epic Fury.

Did Netanyahu Force Trump?

White House spokeswoman Anna ​Kelly did not directly address the call between Trump and Netanyahu but told Reuters the military operation was designed to “destroy the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile and production capacity, annihilate the Iranian regime’s Navy, end their ability to arm proxies, and guarantee that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon."

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has denied reports ​that “Israel somehow dragged the US into a conflict with Iran", calling them “fake news." Trump has said publicly that the decision to strike was his alone.

While the report does not suggest that Netanyahu forced Trump to go to war, it framed the Israeli leader as an effective advocate for the war and was persuasive to the president. Trump had begun contemplating a strike on Iran after negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme failed to yield a breakthrough.

Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear and missile production facilities in June, killing several Iranian leaders. US forces ​later joined the attack, and when that joint operation ended after 12 days, Trump said Iran’s nuclear facilities were “obliterated."

Yet months later, talks began again between the US and Israel about a second aerial attack aimed at hitting additional missile facilities and preventing Iran from gaining the ability to build a nuclear weapon. Israel has long wanted to kill Khamenei, a bitter geopolitical foe that supported heavily armed proxy forces in the region.

During a December visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Netanyahu told Trump that he was not fully satisfied with the outcome of the joint operation in June, Reuters reported. Trump indicated he was open to another bombing campaign, but he wanted a diplomatic solution.

The February 28 strikes led to Iranian counterattacks on US military assets, the deaths of more than 2,300 Iranian civilians and at least 13 US service members, attacks on Gulf countries, the closure of one of the world’s most vital shipping routes and a historic spike in oil prices that is already being felt by ⁠consumers in the United States ​and beyond.

News world Trump Approved Iran Ops After Netanyahu Argued For Joint Killing Of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Report

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