President Trump weighed his options on Iran.
But then Trump got hit with a curveball.
Donald Trump took one phone call about Iran that hit him like a ton of bricks.
President Trump preferred a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program.
It was known that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed for war.
What was unknown, until the war started, was that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also argued for missile strikes.
Mohammed made several secret phone calls to Trump to push the case for military strikes while he publicly supported diplomacy.
“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made multiple private phone calls to Trump over the past month advocating a U.S. attack, despite his public support for a diplomatic solution, the four people said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, continued his long-running public campaign for U.S. strikes against what he views as an existential enemy of his country,” the Washington Post reported.
Trump eventually agreed and announced the start of the war called on the Iranians to join American and Israeli forces in a regime change operation.
“No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight,” Trump said in a video declaring the start of the war. “Now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let’s see how you respond.”
In making his case for war, Mohammed argued to Trump and other administration officials that a failure to act was a bigger risk than initiating another regime change war in the Middle East after the failures in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan.
“In his discussions with U.S. officials, however, the Saudi leader warned that Iran would come away stronger and more dangerous if the United States did not strike now, after amassing the largest military presence in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said the people, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation,” the Washington Post also reported.
Other key Saudi Royal Family members buttressed Mohammed’s case for war.
“Mohammed’s position was reinforced by his brother, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, who held closed-door meetings with U.S. officials in Washington in January and warned about the downsides of not attacking,” the Post report went on to say.
Ultimately, the final call lay with President Trump.
Trump decided on military action.
