On Feb. 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called President Donald Trump with urgent intelligence: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top advisers would be gathered in Tehran, presenting a rare opportunity for a decisive strike. Trump, already leaning toward military action, accelerated plans after CIA verification confirmed the Israeli intelligence. Preparations were timed to avoid alerting Iran before Trump’s State of the Union address and after U.S. envoys reported failed diplomacy. Eleven hours after Trump’s final order, U.S. bombs struck Tehran, killing Khamenei and igniting war. The operation was the culmination of months of coordination between the two leaders, with Netanyahu advocating for speed and Trump balancing diplomacy with military planning. The rapid timeline left the White House justifying the strikes post-factum, complicating public communication and evacuations. Both U.S. and Israeli officials emphasize that the decision was joint, but Trump insisted the U.S. was not “steered” by Netanyahu, framing the strike as an opportunity rather than an Israeli-driven initiative.

It is noteworthy that nearly every objective observer—from Tucker Carlson to Judge Napolitano, Jeffrey Sachs, and John Mearsheimer—has suggested that Trump was clearly steered into joining Israel in attacking Iran. Even Secretary of State Rubio acknowledged this. In that light, the Axios article reads like a White House–planted narrative, designed to dupe Americans into believing that Trump made this decision independently and personally—in other words, to obscure the truth. And the truth is that Trump is manipulated by Israel, at a minimum, and may even be acting under strict Israeli instructions.