Did Israel's 'kill Trump plot' intel provoke US to launch strikes on Iran?
Earlier this week, Israel warned the US of a new Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump as Washington launched a barrage of air strikes on Tehran. The timing of the Israeli warning has raised questions if it was the trigger behind the fresh wave of strikes.
When the US launched a barrage of air strikes against Iran two days ago, shattering their fragile truce, President Donald Trump did not explicitly reveal the trigger behind the escalation. It has now emerged that Israeli intelligence indicated a new Iranian plot to assassinate Trump might have provoked the egoistic President to pound Tehran again. The result - two days of tit-for-tat strikes, soaring oil prices, turmoil in the Middle East, and an interim ceasefire deal in tatters.
Israel has always been seen as the wild card, being blamed by critics for manipulating the US into a war with Iran. Remember how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked into the White House on February 11 this year to persuade Trump, and just weeks later, Iran was hit by a barrage of missiles. But the war spiralled out of control, and Trump, wary of outrage back home and the mid-term elections, signed an interim peace deal with Iran.
ISRAELI INTEL BEHIND LATEST STRIKES?
Israel viewed it as nothing short of a betrayal. Now, Trump is known to have a fragile ego. Hurt Trump's ego, and the man will lose his temper. Earlier this week, Israel quietly passed on intel to the US - Iran has devised a new plan to kill Trump, CNN reported. It was enough to enrage Trump and provoke his ego.
After all, just days ago, he praised Iran's leaders as "strong and smart" negotiators. On Tuesday, 'strong' and 'smart' were replaced by 'scum' and 'sick' as a furious Trump declared that the deal with Iran was "over" while speaking to reporters in Turkey.
While Trump did not reveal the reason, he mentioned the possibility of an assassination attempt from Iran.
"They want to take me out," Trump said. "I am on whatever list. I saw this morning I am on every single one of their lists. And so far, I have been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn't last very long. These are evil, sick people. And we have to root out that cancer," CNN quoted Trump as saying.
The US President also ditched his new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One for an older aircraft when he departed from Turkey on Wednesday. US officials, quoted by CNN, said the move was due to security concerns amid the escalating Iran conflict.
On Thursday, Trump said he recently learnt that he was Iran's top assassination target. "I am number one on the list for killing," he said. It is, however, not clear if Trump was referring to the new Israeli intel.
US officials, however, said they had gathered intelligence in recent weeks about possible plans to kill Trump, who has survived a handful of assassination attempts over the past year-and-a-half.
US security agencies have long warned that Trump was on Iran's hit list after he ordered the drone strike that killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
The Israeli warning, however, was about a specific plot unknown to the US, CNN reported. A section of US officials are sceptical, suggesting that the Israeli input could be an effort to influence Trump's decision on Iran - a case of once bitten, twice shy.
The intel comes against the backdrop of growing differences between Trump and Netanyahu over the handling of the Iran situation.
The timing also might have played a part, as Iran held funeral proceedings for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes in March.
As Khamenei was buried in Mashhad on Friday, thousands of Iranians held 'Kill Trump' banners and postcards. Chants of 'Death to America' also rent the air.
US, IRAN EXCHANGE TIT-FOR-TAT STRIKES
US officials have, however, maintained that the fresh strikes were in retaliation for attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also reinstated sanctions on Iranian oil, and threatened to reimpose a US naval blockade.
Ever since the interim peace deal was signed, Iran's bid to leverage its control of Hormuz, through which 20% of the global energy flows, has led to uneasiness with the US.
In the first wave of strikes, the US targeted military sites in the port cities of Bandar Abbas, Sirik, as well as on Qeshm Island. On Thursday, multiple explosions were heard near Iran's Bushehr nuclear facility.
The US military claimed to have struck more than 170 targets in Iran in the previous 48 hours.
Iran countered by firing at US military facilities in the Gulf nations of Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Jordan - which had not been a focus of Tehran's ire recently - also intercepted Iranian missiles.
The recent flare-up has all but shattered the fragile ceasefire that the US and Iran agreed to just weeks ago. It has left the Middle East suspended between war and peace.