CNN, citing an Israeli source and a knowledgeable American official, revealed that Israel was preparing to launch a large-scale attack on Tehran, before US President Donald Trump personally intervened and asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to slow down and not carry out further retaliatory strikes.
According to the report, the American intervention seemed to bear fruit quickly, as Netanyahu later announced a temporary suspension of Israeli attacks on Iran.
The network indicated that the call was the second between Trump and Netanyahu within a few hours, after the US President had asked the Israeli Prime Minister in a previous call to refrain from carrying out attacks on Iran in response to the missiles that Tehran fired towards Israel.
The Israeli source reported that Netanyahu expressed an objection during the first call, which took place on Sunday evening, US time, insisting on the need to respond to the Iranian attacks, while Trump stressed the need to limit the response and avoid sliding toward a broader escalation.
However, Israel later carried out strikes inside Iran targeting several sites, including an important petrochemical facility.
The report confirmed that the atmosphere of the recent talks was not as tense as it was during the contacts that took place between the two parties last week, which witnessed sharp disagreements.
During the two calls, Trump stressed that the negotiations with Iran had reached advanced stages and were close to reaching an agreement, warning that a return to military confrontation might derail the current diplomatic path.
In parallel, Iran announced the suspension of its military operations against Israel, but threatened to resume them if Israel continued its strikes on Lebanon.
CNN also quoted two Israeli sources as saying that Tel Aviv will respond to the Trump administration’s request to stop strikes on Iran, but will continue its military operations in southern Lebanon, at a time when one of the sources described the situation as “very fragile” in light of Iranian threats to resume targeting Israel if the attacks on Lebanon continue.
