Trump approved Iran operation after Netanyahu argued for joint killing of Khamenei | 23 March 2026 | Less than 48 hours before the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone to President Donald Trump about the reasons for launching the kind of complex, far-off war the American leader once had campaigned against. Both Trump and Netanyahu knew from intelligence briefings earlier in the week that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his key lieutenants would soon meet at his compound in Tehran, ​making them vulnerable to a “decapitation strike” — an attack against a country’s top leaders often used by Israelis but traditionally less so by the United States. But new intelligence suggested that the meeting had been moved forward to Saturday morning from Saturday night, according to three people briefed on the call. The call has not been previously reported.