US Media: Pressure from Saudi Arabia and Israel Prompted Trump to Order Attack on Iran

Odaily According to four informed sources, US President Trump launched a large-scale airstrike on Iran on Saturday, which was preceded by weeks of lobbying from two unusual Middle Eastern allies—Israel and Saudi Arabia. The sources indicated that although Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman publicly supported a diplomatic resolution to the Iran issue, he privately called Trump multiple times over the past month, strongly advocating for a US airstrike. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to publicly lobby the US to strike Iran, viewing Iran as an "existential enemy" of Israel. Under combined pressure from various parties, Trump ordered a large-scale airstrike on Iran's leadership and military. Despite US intelligence assessments suggesting that the Iranian military is unlikely to pose a direct threat to the US mainland within the next decade, the attack proceeded nonetheless. (The Washington Post)