The United States and Israel planned to attack Iran a week earlier. Senior officials cited different possible reasons for the delay. US President Donald Trump also made several statements regarding the killing of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.
Planning the attack on Iran
The United States and Israel planned to strike Iran a week earlier. However, they postponed the attack due to operational and intelligence reasons. Axios reported this, citing its own sources.
After the second round of US-Iran negotiations on February 17 ended without significant progress, the United States and Israel prepared for an attack. They intended to launch strikes four days later, on February 21. However, they did not carry out the plan. Some US and Israeli officials said bad weather was one of the reasons, while others denied this. One Israeli source said the delay occurred because of the United States. Washington wanted better coordination with the Israel Defense Forces.
“The last two weeks have been very back and forth. Some people say it was about the moon or the weather or whatever. But that’s bull,” a US official said. He added that weather concerns mattered more to Israel.
During the week between the original and revised attack dates, the US and Israel feared that Ali Khamenei might leave his residence. He could have moved to an underground bunker for safety.
One Israeli intelligence officer said the United States and Israel wanted to “signal that there was no imminent strike, so that Khamenei and the others would feel safe.” A US official said he was surprised that Khamenei did not take additional security measures. He added that even if Khamenei had remained above ground, they would have caught him anyway.
Trump’s statements
US President Donald Trump said that Iran had plotted to assassinate him. According to him, Iran tried to kill him twice.
“I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first,” Trump said in a conversation with Jonathan Karl for ABC News.
Trump also said that a representative of the Iranian government had contacted him. That person no longer reports to the Supreme Leader. Trump refused to disclose the representative’s name. He also said that the United States had previously identified possible candidates to lead Iran. However, all of them died during the attack.
“The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates. They’re all dead. Second or third place is dead,” Trump said.
The US president also said he does not think Arab states need to join US strikes on Iran.
Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that Trump attacked Iran after pressure from Saudi Arabia and Israel. Journalists from The Washington Post found that those countries had actively urged the White House for a month to strike Iran.
