U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during military operations in Iran, at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. February 28, 2026. The White House/Social Media/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. SOME AREAS BLURRED AT SOURCE.
President Donald Trump may have been led to strike Iran alongside Israel by an "unusual pair" of allies, a new report revealed.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing four sources familiar with the matter, that Trump's decision to conduct a series of strikes against Iran's ballistic and nuclear missile facilities came at the behest of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had been lobbying for the strikes for weeks, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The combined effort helped lead Trump to order a massive aerial campaign against Iran’s leadership and military, which in its initial hour led to the death of [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei and several other senior Iranian officials," according to the report.
"The attack came despite U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran’s forces were unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the U.S. mainland within the next decade," it added. "Saturday’s attack on Iran was a break from decades of U.S. decision-making to hold back from a full-scale effort to depose the regime of a country of more than 90 million people. It also marked a stark shift from Trump’s own previous military forays, which until now have been far narrower in scope."
Early Saturday morning, the U.S. and Israel launched a coordinated attack against multiple Iranian sites. The move sparked protests across both countries and prompted a testy exchange between the United Nations Ambassadors from both countries.