Netanyahu said during Sunday's briefing that 90% of the effort to topple Tehran's political regime is already complete and that American consent has never been a precondition for eliminating Iran's nuclear and broader threats. Recounting a previous campaign, he said he told Trump, "I did not ask for your permission" and urged him to "take the B-2 and strike Fordow," adding that the US joined on the 10th day.
The Sunday statements follow days of conflicting signals ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 election and the Nov. 3 US midterms. While Netanyahu publicly called a pre-election strike "inconvenient and no good" and privately cited the difficulty of postponing the vote and the toll of Iranian retaliation, Axios and Channel 12 reported that he and Trump had discussed a potential joint offensive after intelligence showed "extreme" new Iranian military moves and steps to reconstitute its nuclear program, including at Pickaxe Mountain. A US official told Axios that Trump told Netanyahu to "go ahead and get ready" without making a commitment, while both the White House and Netanyahu's office denied that Netanyahu was pushing for an attack before the elections.