The report indicated Israel was seeking significant American support for preemptive strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, with aerial bombings backing up Israeli commando raids to destroy the Iranian sites. The viewpoint from Tel Aviv is that such a massive operation, envisioned to take a week, would not be successful without direct US assistance.

It was during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu’s visit to the White House earlier this month that Trump informed the Israeli leader that instead he would pursue new diplomatic talks with Iran.

That’s when Netanyahu made the strange and provocative statement that they should “go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision with American execution.” Netanyahu departed Washington with no major wins – not even on the effort to get new tariffs on Israel removed or reduced. The Israelis hoped to thoroughly destroy Iran’s air defenses before starting to target nuclear facilities. It is believed that many were already taken out during last year’s tit-for-tat exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran.

The report confirms prior Axios reporting which said there’s a sharp divide within the Trump administration, as we detailed earlier. Vice President J.D. Vance and those in his camp want to avoid another disastrous Middle East war at all costs: