Netanyahu led US into Iran war with ‘farcical’ regime change pitch

Sensational details have emerged about how the US was led by Israel into war with Iran after Benjamin Netanyahu personally pitched President Donald Trump in the White House Situation Room, advancing claims about regime-change that senior American officials described as “farcical”.

According to the New York Times, the Israeli prime minister used a highly classified meeting in February to press Trump to join a major assault on Iran, presenting regime change as a plausible outcome and portraying the risks of war as manageable.

The report says Netanyahu arrived at the White House on 11 February and was taken to the Situation Room, where he delivered what officials described as a forceful presentation on Iran to Trump and a small circle of senior US officials. 

In an account of the meeting that is likely to fuel speculation about Israel’s undue influence over US presidents, Trump did not sit in his usual place at the head of the conference table. Instead, he sat to one side facing the screens, while Netanyahu sat opposite him, visually backed by Mossad director David Barnea and Israeli military officials appearing remotely behind him.

Netanyahu reportedly argued that Iran was vulnerable to a joint US-Israeli attack and suggested that war could help bring about the fall of the Islamic Republic. The Israeli side presented a scenario in which Iran’s ballistic missile programme could be destroyed within weeks. 

On the crucial issue of the Strait of Hormuz, Netanyahu is said to have oversold the claim that Iran would be too weakened to shut the waterway and that any retaliation against US interests in the region would be limited. Israeli officials also raised the prospect of internal unrest, Mossad-backed rebellion and even Kurdish fighters opening a new front from Iraq.

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However, the New York Times says senior US officials were unconvinced by key parts of Netanyahu’s presentation. After examining the Israeli case, US intelligence officials concluded that only some military objectives were realistically achievable. The broader claims about popular uprising and regime change were dismissed by top officials. CIA director John Ratcliffe reportedly described the regime change scenario as “farcical”, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio bluntly responded: “In other words, it’s bullshit.”

The strongest warning came from Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told Trump that overselling was a familiar Israeli tactic. According to the report, Caine said: “Sir, this is, in my experience, standard operating procedure for the Israelis. They oversell, and their plans are not always well-developed. They know they need us, and that’s why they’re hard-selling.”

The report also details scepticism and opposition from within Trump’s inner circle. Vice President JD Vance was said to be the most resistant to a full-scale war, warning that conflict with Iran could cause regional chaos, heavy casualties, political blowback at home and serious strain on US weapons stockpiles. He reportedly regarded a regime change war as a disaster in the making and raised concern about the danger of Iran disrupting the Strait of Hormuz, with major consequences for global energy markets and US fuel prices.

Others inside the administration of Trump were also uneasy. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was said to be worried that the US was being drawn into another Middle East war. Rubio reportedly preferred continued pressure over full-scale conflict, even if he did not believe Tehran would agree easily to a deal. General Caine also warned about the depletion of US munitions and the difficulty of securing the Strait of Hormuz, though he stopped short of directly urging Trump not to go ahead.

Despite those warnings, Netanyahu’s pitch appears to have had a major impact on Trump, who was said to be impressed by the presentation and increasingly aligned with the Israeli position. The report says that although scepticism remained inside the room, most officials ultimately deferred to the president’s instincts. By the end of February, Trump approved the operation.

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