Report: Netanyahu planned attack on Iran earlier this month, but Trump opposed it

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to carry out strikes against Iran earlier this month, but President Donald Trump opposed reigniting the fighting before the US midterms, the Financial Times reports.

Three people familiar with the matter tell the newspaper that the IDF was ready to carry out strikes on the weekend of October 10 to target Iranian nuclear facilities and regime sites, as well as civilian infrastructure including energy plants.

However, the unnamed sources say that Trump decided not to restart the conflict before the US midterms on November 3.

The sources say the strikes would have been more intense than those carried out by the US and Israel in February.

The report says it was unclear if the US would have joined the strikes. However, a source tells the newspaper that it was “not an unreasonable scenario” for them to be restarted in the coming weeks.

One source says that Israel has prepared a new bank of targets that includes civilian infrastructure sites that have not been hit in the past.

Another source says that the planned strikes by the IDF earlier this month could have been part of a negotiating tactic, and notes that any decision to restart the fighting lay with Trump.

There is no comment from the Pentagon, the newspaper says.

The report comes two days after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly made a secret visit to Israel and met with Netanyahu to discuss “threats in the region.”

It is not the first time in recent weeks that reports have surfaced of Netanyahu pushing for strikes.

On October 9, Trump said Washington would not attack Iran before the midterms, days after a report that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told his American counterparts that such an attack could cause the Israeli election, slated for next week, to be postponed. Jerusalem reportedly assesses that Iran would respond to an American strike with massive missile fire at Israel.

Channel 12 reported last week that Netanyahu had urged Trump to renew the fighting against Iran before Israel’s October 27 election and the US midterm elections on November 3.