How Netanyahu convinced Trump to eliminate Ali Khamenei

Netanyahu claimed that Trump could make history by helping to eliminate the Iranian leadership.

By Hezy Laing

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly convinced U.S. President Donald Trump to authorize a joint “decapitation strike” against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei through a high-stakes phone call less than 48 hours before the operation began on February 28, 2026.

Intelligence originally indicated that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and senior regime officials would soon meet at his compound in Tehran, making them vulnerable to a “decapitation attack,” a method that Israel often uses but the US less so.

But new intelligence indicated that the meeting was brought forward from Saturday night to Saturday morning.

Netanyahu, determined to continue the operation, argued that there may never be a better opportunity to eliminate Khamenei and avenge Iranian efforts to assassinate Trump.

“It’s time to make history,” Netanyahu told him.

By the time the call occurred, the decision had already been made that the United States would conduct a military operation against Iran, but Trump had not considered when or under what circumstances the United States would intervene.

Media sources claim that they believe that the representative’s conversation with Netanyahu, which was in effect the prime minister’s final argument, along with intelligence that indicated a narrow window of opportunity to eliminate Ayatollah Khamenei, was a key factor in the American government’s decision to order the army on February 27 to launch Operation “Epic Fury.”

Netanyahu claimed that Trump could make history by helping to eliminate the Iranian leadership.

He noted that the Iranians were taking to the streets and that this was the best time to topple the regime that has ruled the country since 1979 and has been a leading source of global terrorism and instability since then.

The war broke out on February 28, Saturday morning, and by evening it had already announced that Khamenei had been eliminated.