According to the commission, despite reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convinced US President Donald Trump not to attack Iran, Israel remains on alert for a possible US attack on Tehran.
The report explained that Netanyahu held several security discussions in recent days, which dealt with Iran, among other matters, in conjunction with the visit of US Senator Lindsey Graham, who is known for his hard-line positions towards Tehran.
The report, citing Israeli sources, stated that the United States is still considering launching an attack on Iran “due to the Iranian regime’s violent suppression of widespread protests in the country.”
After days of a sharp escalation that brought the United States to the brink of a new military confrontation in the Middle East, President Trump withdrew at the last minute from issuing an order to carry out a strike against Iran, even though American military officials were “ready to carry out the strike last Wednesday,” according to what informed sources told the Wall Street Journal.
Trump had escalated his tone in an unprecedented manner, announcing the cancellation of all meetings with Iranian leaders, calling on the protesting Iranians to “topple the regime,” and confirming via social media that “help is on the way.”
But after only 3 days, the US President indicated that there would be no imminent strikes, in a sudden shift that ended a week of escalating tension between Washington and Tehran.
Trump said on Friday, justifying his decision: “No one convinced me. I convinced myself… They canceled executions… and that had a big impact.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, senior US military officials were expecting the attack order to be issued on Wednesday, after they received signals that the president was “leaning toward issuing the final order.”
In the early hours of Wednesday, American forces evacuated some of their personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which houses American aircraft and the main command center for air operations in the region.
The United States also continued to send an aircraft carrier strike group, additional fighters, and missile defense systems, indicating that bombs may fall after these reinforcements arrive.
Behind the scenes, however, Trump was hearing alternative opinions. Aides and military officials warned that the United States “cannot ensure the downfall of the Iranian regime with a rapid series of air strikes alone,” and that “it is not clear that bombing Iranian military and civilian sites will help the uprising or weaken the government.”
Aides to the president added, according to the newspaper, that the United States “does not have, at that moment, sufficient military assets in the region to carry out a broad and sustained attack, while at the same time protecting American forces and allies.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump received direct advice about “the difficulty of a regime change scenario,” despite his repeated support for what some described as a “new Iranian revolution.”
By Wednesday afternoon, Trump’s rhetoric began to change publicly, as he told reporters at the White House that Iran had informed the administration to stop killing protesters, without revealing who conveyed the message, adding that “there is no plan for executions. I was informed of this from reliable sources.”
He also repeated an Iranian account that demonstrators opened fire on regime forces.
On the evening of the same day, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an interview with Fox News that the regime “will stop killing and hanging,” statements that the US administration considered an indication of the possibility of retreat.
Israeli and Arab officials told the newspaper that they had informed Washington that “the time is not right for a strike,” that the situation inside Iran is “highly volatile,” and that the protests have been “largely extinguished by violent repression.”
During a phone call on Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed that the American strikes “may be too late to help the demonstrators,” warning that any attack would require an Iranian response, and stressing that Israel “will need an American military presence better positioned to defend it.”
