A phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, shortly before the decision was made to launch a strike on Iran, presented the American president with a window of opportunity to target the Iranian leadership.
The Reuters news agency reported that the conversation took place against the backdrop of intelligence indicating an expected meeting of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with his senior officials in Tehran.
The intelligence, which changed at the last moment, pointed to the meeting being moved up to the morning hours, making the leadership more vulnerable. Netanyahu argued to Trump that there might not be a better opportunity to act, emphasizing the possibility of targeting Khamenei as part of a focused strike.
According to those same sources, Trump had already given preliminary approval for military action against Iran but had not yet determined its timing or conditions. The call was presented as Netanyahu’s closing argument and was assessed as one of the factors that led to the final decision to order the start of the operation on February 27.
The strike began the following morning, and that evening Trump announced that Khamenei had been eliminated.