According to an anonymous source cited by The New York Times on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu convinced U.S. President Trump to launch a joint attack on Iran by promising a swift coup in Iran.
The New York Times reported that during the preparation phase of the conflict, David Barnea, head of Mossad, proposed that Israel's intelligence agency could incite rebellion and overthrow Iran's government within days after the attack began. According to the report, this top spy presented the plan to Netanyahu and senior U.S. officials in January.
Although senior Washington officials and Israel's military intelligence agency AMAN expressed doubts about the feasibility of the plan, Trump and the Israeli prime minister remained "optimistic," aiming to encourage regime change by killing Iran's leadership, the report said.
Citing informed U.S. officials, the newspaper stated that the CIA assessed a complete collapse of the Iranian government as a "relatively unlikely outcome" and warned that in the most probable scenario, hardline officials in Tehran would retain power.
Since attacks began in late February between Washington and Western Jerusalem, the U.S. president has repeatedly called on Iran to overthrow its government.
Despite the deaths of several high-ranking Iranian officials and commanders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Iranian government has not collapsed, and Tehran continues systematically to retaliate against U.S.-Israeli assets across the Middle East.
According to The New York Times, Netanyahu privately "expressed frustration over Mossad's failure to implement the regime-change plan" and worried that Trump might "end the war at any moment."
Original: toutiao.com/article/1860496779265028/
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