US President Donald Trump launched Saturday’s attack on Iran after a weeks-long lobbying effort by the leaders of Israel and Saudi Arabia, The Washington Post reported, citing four people familiar with the matter.
According to the sources, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made multiple private phone calls to Trump over the past month advocating a US attack, in contrast to his public calls for a diplomatic solution.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, continued his public campaign for US strikes against Iran, as an existential enemy of Israel, the Post said.
Reuters reported earlier, citing US sources, that Israel and the US timed their strike on Iran to coincide with a meeting being held by the country’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, with senior aides.
Khamenei was eliminated along with other senior Iranian officials, 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 Khamenei met on Saturday with Shamkhani and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani at a secure location shortly before the strikes began.
One US source said Khamenei had originally been expected to hold the meeting on Saturday evening in Tehran. However, Israeli intelligence detected a meeting on Saturday morning, prompting the strikes to be moved forward, the sources said.
Meanwhile, official media outlets in Iran confirmed early Sunday morning that Khamenei was eliminated in joint strikes by the US and Israel.
The reports stated that “Khamenei was assassinated in his office during the morning hours on Saturday."
In addition, 40 days of mourning were declared following the death of the Supreme Leader.