ABD merkezli haber sitesi Axios, İran’ın dini lideri Ali Hamaney’in ölümüyle sonuçlanan saldırı ile ilgili dikkat çeken bir iddiayı gündeme taşıdı. According to the report, Israel informed the United States of a planned strike, providing details of a meeting between Hamaney and senior advisors. The disclosure comes amid heightened regional instability and escalating tensions between Iran and its adversaries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly contacted former U.S. President Donald Trump on February 23, informing him that Hamaney was scheduled to meet with top advisors on the morning of February 28 in Tehran. Netanyahu indicated the meeting presented an opportunity to eliminate multiple high-ranking Iranian officials in a single strike.
Following the information, Trump directed the U.S. Intelligence agency, the CIA, to verify the details. Concerns that Hamaney might increase security measures or go into hiding led Trump to refrain from focusing heavily on Iran during his State of the Union address on February 24, officials said.
The CIA reportedly confirmed the intelligence regarding Hamaney and his advisors on the same day that the latest negotiations between the U.S. And Iran were taking place. This prompted increased support for capitalizing on the opportunity. After Trump’s representatives reported from nuclear negotiations in Geneva with Iran that “an agreement was not possible,” Trump authorized the strike the following day.
Officials stated that the U.S. And Israel had initially planned to carry out the strike in late March or early April to build public support. However, Netanyahu reportedly insisted on moving the date forward, citing the risk that Iranian opposition leaders in hiding could be killed by the regime. “We didn’t have time to build the necessary preparations because the opportunity came to us very quickly,” one official said.
