NYT: Israel wanted to strike Iranʼs nuclear facilities, but Trump refused

Israel had planned to attack Iranian nuclear facilities this May. But the US President Donald Trump refused to support an Israeli strike in favour of talks with Tehran to limit its nuclear program.

This is reported by The New York Times, citing sources.

Trumpʼs decision followed months of internal debate within his administration, with the head of the US Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, and national security adviser Mike Waltz discussing how the US could potentially support an Israeli attack.

At one of the following meetings, CIA Director Tulsi Gabbard presented a new US intelligence assessment that indicated that the build-up of US weapons in the region could potentially provoke a larger conflict with Iran, which the US does not want. Gabbardʼs concerns were supported by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the US Vice President JD Vance, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Israeli officials who developed the plans to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities were optimistic about US support. The aim of the strikes was to set back Tehran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by a year or more. But almost all of the plans required US assistance not only to protect Israel from an Iranian response but also to make the attack itself successful. Even those who initially supported the Israeli strike, such as Adviser Waltz, doubted its success without American support.

At a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in Washington on April 7, Trump informed him of his refusal to support the Israeli attack. At the same time, the US president publicly announced the upcoming negotiations with Iran. In his statement in Hebrew after the meeting, Netanyahu wrote that the agreement with Iran would only work if all nuclear facilities were blown up and the equipment “dismantled under American supervision”.

Nuclear deal with Iran

The Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by the US, UK, Russia, France, China, Germany and the EU. They agreed that the Iranian authorities would give up their nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Iran nuclear deal and imposed new sanctions against the Iranian regime.

Tehran resumed uranium production after Trump pulled out of the deal. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Iran’s nuclear program has “advanced significantly”, Axios noted.

The Biden administration has been conducting indirect talks with Iran to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Those efforts collapsed in late 2022 when the United States accused Iran of making “unfounded” demands related to an International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into unexplained traces of uranium found at undisclosed Iranian sites. In the months that followed, the Trump administration maintained that the Iran nuclear deal was “off the table”.

Whatʼs happening now?

In September 2024, during the election campaign, Trump said he was open to a new nuclear deal with Iran. At the time, Politico noted that his statements were an attempt to ease tensions with the Iranian government — the Republican had been told a week earlier that Iran was planning to assassinate Trump.

In early February, the American president signed a document that restores “maximum pressure” on Iran to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero and prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons.

And on February 6, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against an international network that directs revenues from the sale of Iranian oil to the needs of the Iranian army, bypassing existing restrictions.

On April 12, indirect talks between representatives of Tehran and Washington took place in Oman. Iran described them as “productive”. Tehran is cautious about the talks, Reuters writes. They do not trust Donald Trump, as he has repeatedly threatened a military strike on Iran. Despite the openness to discussion, the parties are still far from rapprochement, the agency adds.

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