A new book reveals Trump’s last moments before the Iranian strike
US President Donald Trump was actively pursuing nuclear diplomacy with Iran even as military plans for an attack were being finalized, according to a new book that provides a detailed account of how negotiations collapsed and the strikes that followed.“Regime Change,” written by New York Times journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, depicts a president who refuses to give up on a deal until the very end.
But as the talks faltered, Trump became convinced that Iran was weak. He told his advisers that he had a “good feeling” about military action, and the authors write that he wanted to “eliminate the regime and find out the details later.”
Netanyahu pressured Trump hard
The book reveals that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed Trump hard to act, arguing that Iran had never been more vulnerable.
He presented a four-stage plan: decapitate the Iranian leadership, destroy its army, topple the regime and form a new government.Netanyahu showed Trump a video showing what a post-revolution Iran could look like and suggested exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi as a potential leader. Trump liked what he saw, but had doubts about the later stages, reportedly concluding that regime change would be “their problem.” The book does not make it clear who “they” refers to.
Senior US officials rejected Netanyahu’s plan
Trump’s national security team was not convinced. CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly described Netanyahu’s vision as “farcical.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio was even more blunt when he interrupted a meeting, saying: “In other words, this is nonsense.”Rubio argued against making regime change the goal. He added that if the goal is to destroy Iran’s missile program, “that is a goal we can achieve.”
Final meeting of the operating room
One of the most dramatic scenes in the book occurs in the last Situation Room meeting before the strikes.
Ratcliffe briefed Trump on intelligence that Iran’s senior leadership was expected to meet at Khamenei’s compound. If regime change meant killing Khamenei, Ratcliffe reportedly told the president: “Maybe we can do it.”Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Kaine warned that a prolonged conflict could deplete U.S. weapons stockpiles, strain already-extended missile defenses by Ukraine and Israel, and put U.S. forces at risk.Vice President J.D. Vance, the administration’s most prominent opponent of military action, reiterated his objections but said he would support Trump if he decided to go ahead. Sources familiar with Vance’s concerns told the authors that he warned that war could fracture Trump’s political coalition and alienate voters who supported him on a promise not to wage new wars.
Diplomacy continued almost until the attack
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his advisor, Jared Kushner, continued to negotiate with Iranian officials in Oman and Switzerland until recent days.
One proposal offered Iran free nuclear fuel for its civilian program for life, in a test to see whether Tehran’s enrichment efforts were aimed at energy or weapons.Witkoff and Kushner concluded that Iran is stalling, hoping to outlast a Trump presidency. That convinced the president’s diplomacy had reached its end and led to Trump giving the final order.After listening to his advisors, Trump made his decision. “I think we need to do this,” he said.He issued the final order the next afternoon while traveling to Texas.Seventeen days after the war, the authors find Trump in the Oval Office with printouts of maple trees spread out on his desk instead of military maps. “I’m ordering trees for the White House,” he told them. “I know how to buy good trees. Maple trees.”