From the Liveblog of
Monday, March 2, 2026
US-Israeli strikes on Iran were planned to begin a week earlier — report
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleUS and Israeli officials tell the Axios news site that the two countries planned to launch their military offensive against Iran a week earlier, but the opening attack was postponed for operational and intelligence reasons.
The report says that a key reason no green light was ultimately given to strike on February 21 was the weather, as well as to improve coordination between the US and Israeli militaries.
“The last two weeks have been very back and forth,” says a Trump administration official quoted in the report.
“Some people say it was about the moon or the weather or whatever. But that’s bull,” the official adds, before acknowledging “there was a weather thing. There’s no question. And there was a weather issue more in the mind of the Israelis.”
The Times of Israel Community.