Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing for a joint U.S.-Israeli strike against Iran, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has asked that any potential action be delayed until Washington is ready, CNN reported Monday, citing two U.S. officials and an Israeli security source.
“Netanyahu really wanted and tried to convince Trump of a joint attack in Iran before the elections, and Trump did not give the green light,” the Israeli source told the American media outlet.
The network also said the U.S. military had prepared significant strike options for Trump if he chose to use them, which it would be ready to implement within days if ordered to do so.
Another source briefed on the matter told CNN that Israel had pressured the United States over the past week to support and potentially join Israeli strikes against Iran. Trump and other senior U.S. officials asked Israel to wait, according to the source, and indicated they would agree to conduct joint operations soon.
The report said Israel agreed, among other reasons, because of concerns about missile defense and the need for U.S. support if Iran and potentially Yemen’s Houthis fired missiles at Israel.
The Prime Minister’s Office denied this information, calling it “fake news”, without providing further details.
On Sunday evening, Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had clashed in recent days over an instruction from the prime minister calling for unspecified military action that defense officials fear could lead to a rapid confrontation with Iran shortly before the election. Netanyahu also denied this, although Army Radio published similar reports Monday morning, citing two senior security officials.
According to the Israeli source cited by CNN, one of the reasons Trump did not agree to an immediate strike was Zamir’s warning that an attack could postpone the Knesset elections.
If the United States decides to strike, sources told CNN that American forces are prepared to launch a major operation against Iran “within 96 hours of receipt” of Trump’s order, and that the planned attacks would constitute “a big effort,” that is, a major campaign.
According to the report, strikes would go beyond “mowing the lawn” and target military sites, nuclear facilities and critical infrastructure.
Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted Monday that Israel had no plans to strike Iran before the election.
“Reports of disagreements between political leaders and the Israeli military over Iran are completely baseless and false,” Katz said in a statement.
“I state unequivocally that Israel did not intend to launch an attack on Iran before the elections in Israel, while we have made it clear that if Iran attacks Israel, we will respond with great force,” Katz said, adding that “all reports on this issue are completely false.”
IDF considers speech “irrelevant”, army concentrates on its missions
Issuing its first comment on Israeli media reports of a clash between Netanyahu and Zamir, the publication of which was approved by the IDF military censor, the army said on Monday that it remained focused on its missions and that “any further talk is misleading and irrelevant.”
“Regarding the various reports appearing in the Israeli and international media over the past day, which attribute various statements to the Chief of Staff or senior military officials, we wish to clarify: IDF is focused on its missions and maintains a high state of alert on all fronts, in light of the various warnings and the sensitivity of the current period,” the army said, referring to the elections.
“The IDF’s operational activities and considerations are solely security-related, professional, practical and political, and any other rhetoric is misleading and irrelevant,” the army added.
As the reports emerged, Yisrael Beytenu party leader and opposition challenger Avigdor Liberman said Monday that he had written a letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, asking him to open a criminal investigation against the prime minister for alleged “treason.”
Over the past month, Liberman said, Netanyahu “has been pressuring security chiefs to take actions that could cause a miscalculation with respect to Iran. The attempt to drag Israel into war on the eve of the elections, coupled with the willingness to sacrifice IDF soldiers simply because it is afraid of an electoral defeat, is a betrayal of the state, its security and the IDF soldiers.”
Mecca Pact countries in Iran for negotiations
Separately, high-level delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, signatories to the Mecca Defense Pact, were in Tehran on Monday for meetings aimed at trying to avoid a resumption of fighting, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin were expected to meet with top Iranian security officials and negotiators to push for a deal between Tehran and Washington.
The war in Yemen and strikes by Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia were also topics of the discussions, according to two regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters in the Iranian capital that the meeting’s agenda had not been set, but the talks would “undoubtedly address the most pressing threats to regional security.”
He said these issues include “the expansionism of the Zionist regime, developments in occupied Palestine and the surrounding region, Lebanon.”
One of the most important topics of the meeting, Baghaei said, will be “US military aggression and the aggression of the Zionist regime and its consequences for the security of the entire region.”
Baghaei added that “the very fact that countries in the region are seeking to establish or at least seek rational security mechanisms based on their own interests and concerns is a positive thing.”
Saudi Arabia said in a statement that delegations hoped to find “ways to defuse tensions, strengthen regional security and promote its stability.”
Qatari mediators also visited Tehran on Sunday, working in coordination with the United States, as part of efforts to defuse regional tensions, according to a regional official speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
Pakistan and Qatar helped broker a deal in June for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, ending the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and opening negotiations on a broader settlement over Iran’s nuclear program. However, the agreement quickly broke down when both sides renewed their attacks.
In Tehran, when asked whether Iran was planning attacks, Baghaei responded only Monday that “the Israeli regime is highly qualified to carry out false flag operations.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right of self-defense to protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Iran,” he said.
The front in Yemen widens
Yemen has become a growing front in the war against Iran that began in February, with the Houthis launching more attacks against Saudi Arabia because that country supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government in its fight against the rebels.
The conflict has intensified since forces from the internationally recognized government and Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on the Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in July, breaking the 2022 ceasefire agreement that had largely ended fighting in the country’s civil war.
On Monday morning, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the rebel group fired ballistic missiles at military gatherings and weapons depots belonging to Saudi-backed government forces in Aden and Lahj provinces. He claimed the attacks destroyed military equipment and caused casualties, but provided no evidence. The Associated Press could not independently verify these claims.
Meanwhile, residents of Houthi-held Sanaa and the Red Sea coast reported a series of explosions.
Houthi media said the airstrikes targeted a solar power system and a water well in Sanaa, but provided no evidence. In the port town of Mokha, recently seized by the Houthis, residents said rockets hit several buildings, including a hospital.
The Houthi-run al-Masirah channel also reported strikes in Saada, in northern Yemen, and in the southwest province of Taiz, where rebels and Saudi-backed government forces have been fighting for weeks.
The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said an operation in Houthi-controlled territory destroyed five tunnels used to store ballistic missiles, four ballistic missile launchers and another missile storage site.
Times of Israel agencies and staff contributed to this report.
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