Israel believed that burning tanks would allegedly lead to internal chaos in Iran's leadership.
The newspaper claims that the U.S. president and the head of the Pentagon's Central Command advised Tel Aviv against strikes on large oil tanks near Tehran, but their advice was ignored.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged that it underestimated Iran's ability to undermine the global economy by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. This is reported by the New York Times, citing American and Israeli officials.
The publication notes that it was only in the second week of the war that the Trump administration assessed that Iran's readiness and ability to undermine the global economy were greater than U.S. officials had anticipated. The same applies to Tehran's ability to expand the war throughout the region.
According to the newspaper, at the end of February, senior Israeli officials informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the likelihood of anti-government protests in Iran. It was assumed that these protests would begin if the first strike on the country was successful and led to the elimination of most of Iran's security forces, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The publication notes that Netanyahu apparently managed to convince Trump of this as well.
In addition, the newspaper reports that Trump and the head of the Pentagon's Central Command, Brad Cooper, advised Tel Aviv against strikes on large oil tanks near Tehran. They feared that an attack could provoke Iranians to retaliate against other energy targets in the region.
“Netanyahu ignored this advice,” the publication states.
It is specified that Israel struck the storage facilities a week ago on Saturday. This caused massive fires and the first spike in oil prices. In Washington, they were convinced that the Israeli leader wanted to see “dramatic scenes” as Tehran was enveloped in “black smoke of destruction.” According to one White House official, Israel believed that burning tanks would allegedly lead to internal chaos in Iran's leadership.
Earlier, a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Ali Mohammad Naeini, stated that U.S. leadership is thinking about how to end the conflict with Iran. In his opinion, Washington hoped that by eliminating Ali Khamenei, it could bring Iran to “political disintegration.” The conflict itself, as Americans assumed, would be “limited and short-term” and would not spread throughout the Middle East.
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