WASHINGTON (TNND) — Muddled messaging from the Trump administration earlier this week about how the decision to strike Iran unfolded, and what role Israel played in it, led to numerous critics questioning whether Israel had drawn the United States into the conflict. Both President Trump and Israeli officials have forcefully rejected that characterization.
“I mean this whole notion of dragging President Trump into an operation of this magnitude is just so insulting to the president,” Dr. Michael Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, told Sinclair in an interview on Wednesday.
New reporting by Axios details a call made last Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Trump alerting the U.S. to extraordinary intelligence: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and several top advisers were expected to gather at a single location in Tehran the following Saturday morning — presenting a rare opportunity for a decisive strike that would take out much of Iran’s top leadership.
“When you take out the head of the snake, it’s very difficult for the snake to wiggle afterwards,” Leiter explained, underscoring Israel’s view of the strategic moment.
The CIA reportedly corroborated the intelligence as diplomatic talks over Iran’s nuclear program faltered in Geneva. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration believed Tehran had abandoned good-faith negotiations.
“The terrorist Iranian regime refused to negotiate in good faith. They chose this path of violence and destruction,” Leavitt said Wednesday during the first White House press briefing since the strikes.
According to officials familiar with the discussions, favorable weather conditions further solidified the window for action. President Trump ultimately authorized the strikes.
When asked whether Israel would have proceeded without U.S. backing, Leiter declined to speculate.
“We lay out the way we’re seeing it, we lay out our intel, and the United States makes a decision,” he said. “The bottom line is, we’re in this together. We’re the junior partner and the United States is the senior partner.”
Israel has made clear its broader objective is regime collapse in Iran to create space for the Iranian people to establish new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on social media that any successor chosen by the current regime would be “an unequivocal target for elimination.”
Leiter maintained that the mission can be accomplished without deploying ground troops.
“All the planning has been done in such a way that there isn’t a military need for boots on the ground,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iran has widened the conflict, launching missiles at the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Jordan — a move that surprised some analysts, particularly given Oman’s recent role mediating talks between Tehran and Washington.
If Iran is ultimately removed as a regional threat, Leiter says Israel hopes diplomatic pathways will open to expand on the Abraham Accords where Israel can normalize relations with their Arab neighbors.
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