Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denied a Financial Times report that U.S. President Donald Trump had blocked a major Israeli attack on Iran planned for the weekend of October 10, calling the account inaccurate and biased.
"This report is not true. I'm not going to get into correcting this biased report," Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel's Channel 7.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: Jack Guez/ AFP)
The prime minister was responding to a question about the British newspaper's report, published Wednesday, that he had pushed for a renewed military offensive against Iran but was prevented from proceeding because Trump opposed resuming hostilities before the U.S. midterm elections on November 3.
Asked directly whether he had planned an attack and Trump had told him not to proceed, Netanyahu rejected the premise without specifying which elements of the report he disputed.
According to the Financial Times, which cited three people familiar with the plans, the IDF had prepared for several days of intensive strikes against Iranian targets during the weekend of October 10.
The proposed operation reportedly included attacks on nuclear facilities, power plants and other civilian infrastructure, as well as additional sites associated with the Iranian regime.
The sources said the planned bombardment would have been more intense than the strikes carried out during Operation Roaring Lion earlier this year.
However, the offensive did not proceed because Trump opposed restarting the conflict ahead of the American midterm elections, according to the newspaper.
One of the sources said that Israel and the United States could still resume military operations against Iran in the coming weeks.
"There will either be a deal or an attack," one person familiar with the plans told the Financial Times.
Another source said that, as far as the Israeli government was concerned, "everything is on the table," adding that nothing would surprise them.
Ahead of the weekend when Netanyahu reportedly sought to launch the offensive, Trump posted a statement on his Truth Social platform saying that Washington was engaged in productive discussions with Iran.
The president said Iran was in a difficult economic and military position and emphasized that the U.S. naval blockade would remain in full effect.
"We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections" on November 3, Trump wrote. He also reiterated that Iran would not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Netanyahu's rejection of the Financial Times report leaves competing accounts of the aborted military operation: the newspaper's account, based on three unnamed sources, and the prime minister's denial, which did not address the reported planning in detail.