Trump blocked Israeli-proposed joint attack on Iran to pursue nuclear deal — report

US President Donald Trump quashed Israeli proposals for a series of joint strikes next month on Iranian nuclear facilities, opting instead to try for a diplomatic solution to the problem of Tehran’s nuclear program, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Trump’s dismissal earlier this month of Jerusalem’s plans, which Israeli officials had discussed with their US counterparts and were ready to carry out in May if they could secure US support and participation, resulted from internal divisions in the Trump administration, the report said, citing administration officials and others.

Sources briefed on the proposed attack said it aimed to set back Iran’s ability to break out to a bomb by at least a year, but months of debate among Trump’s aides on the issue resulted in a general consensus against military action, as Tehran showed signs of being open to talks, the newspaper reported.

Trump declined to discuss plans regarding Iran when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned him on April 3 and instead invited him to the White House. Four days later, with Netanyahu at his side in the Oval Office, he announced that he had initiated direct talks with Iran. Those talks began on April 12.

Citing multiple officials with knowledge of Israel’s plans, the report outlined intended Israeli offensives in which the US would play an essential role by both helping to execute the attack successfully and protecting Israel against a retaliatory strike.

Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the head of US Central Command, and Mike Waltz, US national security adviser, had shown openness to the Israeli plans and discussed how the US could help, according to the report. Israeli officials “were prepared” to carry out the plans, “and at times were optimistic that the United States would sign off.”

Initial plans for the strike would have combined a joint Israeli-American bombing campaign with Israeli commando raids on underground nuclear sites, and included US airstrikes to protect the teams on the ground.

But such an operation would have required months of planning. Israeli and American officials, particularly Netanyahu, wanted to expedite the process. So the commando idea was shelved, and “Israeli and American officials began discussing a plan for an extensive bombing campaign.”

The campaign would have started in early May and lasted more than a week, beginning with eliminating what remained of Iran’s air defense systems after Israel destroyed parts of the array during strikes in the country last year. This would pave the way for Israeli fighters to directly strike nuclear sites. Such an attack would have likely prompted Iran to launch a retaliatory missile barrage at Israel, requiring US assistance to fend it off.

However, Trump “did not want to discuss Iran plans on the phone” when the premier called him on April 3, and instead extended an invitation for Netanyahu to visit the White House, according to Israeli officials cited in the report.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington four days later, in a visit publicly framed as an opportunity to address Trump’s tariffs, though Israeli officials were primarily focused on discussing the planned Iran strikes.

Netanyahu then found himself unexpectedly and visibly out of sync with the US president on the Iran issue when Trump announced, with the Israeli premier sitting beside him in the Oval Office, that the US was initiating nuclear talks with Tehran.

“In private discussions, Mr. Trump made clear to Mr. Netanyahu that he would not provide American support for an Israeli attack in May while the negotiations were playing out,” the Times reported, citing officials briefed on the discussions.

Two days after Netanyahu’s visit, Trump declared that Israel would take a leading role in a potential military strike on Iran if the US-Iran talks failed.

A rude awakening

Netanyahu said in a Hebrew video statement after his White House visit that he and Trump “agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” and that this could only be achieved by an agreement wherein nuclear capabilities are definitively dismantled, not merely limited.

The premier said this goal could be achieved diplomatically only if it is similar to the 2003 nuclear disarmament of Libya, during which US forces destroyed or shipped out the components of the country’s nuclear program.

“We go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision and American execution — that is good,” said Netanyahu.

“A second possibility is that this does not happen” and Iran “simply drags out talks. And then the option is military. Everyone understands this,” said Netanyahu, adding that he and Trump discussed that eventuality at length.

Both US and Israeli officials described the Oval Office meeting as tense, in particular on the Iran issue, Axios reported on Wednesday.

“Trump and [Netanyahu] see things very differently on the issue of a military strike in Iran,” one official told Axios.

“The president kinda relished sticking it to him on Iran. The same dynamic you saw in public is what happened in private,” the official said.

Trump’s two camps

Iran and the United States will hold another round of nuclear talks on Saturday, a week after top officials met in the Omani capital for the highest-level discussions between the longtime foes since Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear deal in 2018.

Both sides described the talks as “constructive,” though the US continues to impose sanctions on Iran and has stationed B-2 bombers within striking distance of the country.

Officials within the Trump administration remain divided between dialogue and military action to prevent Iranian nuclear development, Axios said in its Wednesday report.

“The Iran policy is not very clear mainly because it is still being figured out. It is tricky because it’s a highly politically charged issue,” a US official with knowledge of the inside discussions told Axios.

Though officials agree that without a successful deal there will likely be a war, two camps within Trump’s administration diverge on the best current approach, the report said.

US officials said those pursuing a deal include Vice President JD Vance, US Envoy Steve Witkoff and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who wish to avoid putting US soldiers at risk and fear the economic setback the US would face were oil prices to skyrocket after an attack on Iran. Some of these officials also doubt the feasibility of demanding a full dismantling of Iran’s entire nuclear program under any deal, as Netanyahu demands.

Others, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, call for military confrontation, arguing that in light of Iran’s weakened position, now is the prime time to destroy its nuclear program by either striking directly or supporting an Israeli assault.

Iran has become increasingly vulnerable following Israeli counterattacks against Tehran and its proxies since October 2023, which led to the near dismantlement of Iran’s main proxy Hezbollah, while the collapse of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government has further weakened its hold on the region.

Talks to continue in Rome

Iran confirmed on Wednesday that the next round of nuclear talks with the US will be held on Saturday in Rome, after earlier confusion over where the negotiations would take place. It said that Oman will again mediate the talks. Oman’s foreign minister served as an interlocutor between the two sides at talks last weekend in Muscat.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, arrived in the Islamic Republic on Wednesday for talks which may include negotiations over what access IAEA inspectors can get under any proposed deal.

Grossi wrote about his “timely visit to Iran” on X, saying that cooperation with the IAEA “is indispensable to provide credible assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program at a time when diplomacy is urgently needed.”

Since the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018 with Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the accord, Iran has abandoned that deal’s limits on its program, enriching uranium to up to 60% purity — near the weapons-grade level of 90%.

Iran has disrupted surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA and has barred some of the agency’s inspectors. Iranian officials have also increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons, something the West and the IAEA have been worried about for years since Tehran abandoned an organized weapons program in 2003.

“Without us, any agreement is just a piece of paper,” Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday, warning that Iran is “not far” from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Iran’s uranium enrichment as part of its nuclear program was “non-negotiable,” after US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff said any nuclear deal must “eliminate” Iran’s enrichment and weaponization.

“Iran’s enrichment is a real, accepted matter. We are ready to build confidence in response to possible concerns, but the issue of enrichment is non-negotiable,” Araghchi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

AP contributed to this report.