Netanyahu and MBS secretly lobbied Trump for weeks before Iran war

On Saturday, February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran. The opening attack killed Ayatollah AKAli Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, along with key members of his inner circle. Iran responded with retaliatory strikes across the Gulf, hitting U.S. bases and Gulf state targets. The war began in the middle of active nuclear negotiations between 🌲Washington and Tehran. The U.S. had already struck Iran once in June 2025, hitting its main enrichment facilities in what Trump called an obliterating attack on the country's nuclear program.

The decision to strike in late February traces back to a phone call on Monday, February 23. Israeli Prime Minister BNBenjamin Netanyahu called Trump from the White House Situation Room with a piece of intelligence: Khamenei and his top advisers were all scheduled to meet at one location in Tehran on Saturday morning. According to three sources briefed on the discussion, Netanyahu told Trump they could all be eliminated in a single strike. Trump told Netanyahu he would consider moving forward but first needed to watch how nuclear negotiations in Geneva concluded. By Thursday, CIA analysts confirmed the Khamenei location intelligence. Hours later, the Geneva talks collapsed. Trump gave the order.

The February 23 call was one of 15 phone calls between Trump and Netanyahu in the two months leading up to the war. They also met in person twice during that period. Netanyahu's last in-person visit was February 11, a hastily arranged three-hour meeting at the White House that was closed to the press. The day after that meeting, the USS Gerald Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, departed the Caribbean and set course for the Mediterranean. Netanyahu told Trump this was a now-or-never moment to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and destroying its ballistic missile capabilities.

Senator Lindsey Graham played a parallel lobbying role. Graham made multiple trips to Israel in recent weeks before the strikes, meeting with members of the Israeli intelligence service. He told the Wall Street Journal: They tell me things our own government won't tell me. Graham also coached Netanyahu on how to pitch Trump on military action. He flew to Saudi Arabia and met personally with Crown Prince MBMohammed bin Salman to gauge Gulf state support, telling MBS: I think this is going down. He then returned to Mar-a-Lago carrying the message that Gulf states wanted the U.S. to act, a message that contradicted what was being reported publicly at the time. Graham also worked with retired Army General Jack Keane and conservative columnist Marc Thiessen to write columns and secure television appearances on shows likely to get Trump's attention.

Netanyahu said publicly after the strikes: This coalition of forces allows me to do what I have yearned to do for 40 years. Multiple foreign policy analysts told Al Jazeera and other outlets that the war primarily served Israeli strategic interests rather than American ones. Negar Mortazavi of the Center for International Policy said: This is another Israeli war that the US is launching. Iran's UN ambassador ABAli Bahreini said Netanyahu had convinced Trump to destroy diplomacy and attack Iran while negotiations were ongoing. Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, had privately urged the U.S. to pursue a negotiated deal with Tehran and warned that Iran would retaliate against their countries. Iran did exactly that, launching strikes across the Gulf.

The accelerated timeline left the White House flat-footed. Rather than spending weeks building a public case for war, the administration found itself justifying the strikes after the bombs had already fallen. A U.S. official acknowledged to Axios: We did not make the case in advance as well as we could have because the opportunity came on us so fast. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress the operation had to happen anyway and this weekend presented a unique opportunity. But Pentagon briefers reportedly told Congress that the U.S. did not have intelligence suggesting Iran was planning a preemptive strike against the United States. Trump denied being pulled in by Israel, saying: If anything, I might have forced their hands.

The war began without a formal congressional declaration or authorization. Critics across the political spectrum, including some in the MAGA movement, argued that Iran posed no direct threat to the United States and that the decision violated the War Powers Act. American citizens in the region were caught unaware because Trump and Netanyahu disguised the attack timing. Many were stranded as Iranian retaliatory strikes spread across the Gulf. As of early March 2026, Trump said the operation could take four or five weeks or whatever it takes.