NYT revealed Israel's argument that convinced Trump to start a war against Iran

The head of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, David Barnea, convinced the leaders of the United States and Israel that he could incite mass riots in Tehran, but hopes of overthrowing the regime became a "key miscalculation" in preparing for a military operation against Iran. This was reported on March 22 by The New York Times (NYT), citing sources among American and Israeli officials.

Barnea claimed that within a few days of the outbreak of war, his service would most likely be able to mobilize the Iranian opposition, provoking unrest and resistance that could lead to the collapse of the Iranian government. [After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the plan] Barnea also presented his proposal to senior officials in the administration of [US President Donald] Trump during a visit to Washington in mid—January," the article says.

The US military and intelligence services were initially skeptical of the proposed plan, but Netanyahu managed to use the optimism of the Mossad to convince Trump of the success of the operation and the overthrow of the Iranian leadership, which, according to Israeli intelligence agencies, would exclude the prolongation of the military conflict.

Sources note that, in addition to the activation of opposition forces in Iran, the Mossad's plan included the invasion of Kurdish groups from Iraq. To support them, massive airstrikes were carried out on military installations in northwestern Iran. However, Turkey warned the United States against military support for the Kurds, and the change in the American position led to disagreements with Israel, the newspaper added.

Despite his optimistic public statements, Netanyahu was overwhelmed by the failure of the Mossad plan. Sources said that he expressed his disappointment at one of the meetings shortly after the start of the military operation. Netanyahu fears that due to the inability of Israeli intelligence to provoke mass protests, Trump may cease military operations in the region at any moment.

"The belief that Israel and the United States could contribute to a large-scale uprising has become a fundamental mistake in preparing for the war that has spread throughout the Middle East. Instead of collapsing from within, the Iranian government strengthened and escalated the conflict, striking military bases, cities, ships, as well as vulnerable oil and gas facilities in the Persian Gulf," the publication says.

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Earlier, on March 21, Trump said that if Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz, the United States would strike at the power plants in 48 hours. He threatened that the US military would strike and destroy various power plants, starting with the largest one.

Iran responded by warning that all energy facilities in Israel and countries hosting US military bases would immediately become targets for Iran in the event of strikes on Iranian power plants.

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