Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented President Donald Trump with the option of a broad military strike on Iran that would go beyond its nuclear program and military capabilities and aim to fundamentally change the structure of the regime, an American source told the Emirati news site Erem News on Thursday.
According to the source, Netanyahu proposed an operation larger than February's joint offensive, known in Israel as Operation Roaring Lion. The Trump administration, the source said, prefers to push Iran toward an agreement covering its nuclear program and security in the Strait of Hormuz, which would allow the war to end. The source described Washington as facing a dilemma, warning that an open confrontation would affect energy markets.
The report, by Israel Hayom, has not been independently confirmed. But it aligns with what Netanyahu has been saying publicly all week.
On Tuesday, speaking at Tel Hai University in Kiryat Shmona, Netanyahu said Israel is committed to "completing the elimination of the Iranian regime" and that he had discussed it with Trump many times, including on Sunday. He called the regime the head of a "venomous octopus" and said it would keep pursuing nuclear weapons and rebuilding its proxy network "as long as it lives."
On Wednesday, at an IDF officers' graduation ceremony, Netanyahu said Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had "released the safety pin" and that Iran was again trying to develop nuclear weapons. "There is one way to remove this threat once and for all: to topple the regime in Iran," he said. "That is my directive to the IDF, the Mossad and the security services."
In an interview with Arutz Sheva published Thursday, Netanyahu went further. "I don't demand, I direct," he said when asked whether he was demanding the regime's overthrow. He said that when he presented Israel's operational plan to Trump, he offered him the option of joining on the fourth slide, and that he told the president Israel was prepared to act with or without the United States. Netanyahu also said he will brief Trump on Israel's intentions but will not ask for a green light.
Netanyahu also denied a Financial Times report that Trump had blocked an Israeli strike planned for the weekend of October 10. "It's an incorrect report," he said.
The reports come as the United States and Israel prepare for a possible renewed campaign. The New York Times reported Wednesday that the two militaries have drawn up plans for a short, intensive strike on Iran's energy infrastructure, nuclear sites and missile arsenal after the November 3 U.S. midterms. Trump has not approved the operation, and he has pledged not to attack before Americans vote. The Jerusalem Post reported that the administration came "very close" to approving a strike on at least one recent occasion.
Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday. Trump endorsed Netanyahu on Sunday, warning that if Israel chose another leader, the United States would have to finish the job against Iran alone.
