US President Donald Trump waved off a planned Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites in favor of negotiating a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing administration officials and others.
Trump's decision came after "months of internal debate over whether to pursue diplomacy or support Israel in seeking to set back Iran’s ability to build a bomb," NYT added, providing context that Iran is currently in a militarily and economically weakened position.
The internal debate highlighted "fault lines" between hawkish cabinet officials in Washington and others that are "more skeptical that a military assault on Iran could destroy the country’s nuclear ambitions and avoid a larger war."
Trump's decision signals the debate resulted in a "rough consensus, for now, against military action, with Iran signaling a willingness to negotiate," according to NYT.
Trump appears to have "chosen diplomacy over military action" and is "eager to avoid being sucked into another war in the Middle East." He therefore "opened negotiations with Tehran, giving it a deadline of just a few months to negotiate a deal over its nuclear program."
Israel reportedly developed plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites next month, with the IDF prepared to carry them out, and "at times, optimistic that the US would sign off" on endorsing the strikes.
This endorsement would be key to the success of Israel's plan as "almost all of the plans would have required US help not just to defend Israel from Iranian retaliation, but also to ensure that an Israeli attack was successful, making the United States a central part of the attack itself," NYT commented.
NYT reports that earlier in April, Trump informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington would not support an attack, discussing the plans when Netanyahu visited Washington last week.
After the meeting, Netanyahu released a statement in Hebrew that any agreement with Iran would only work if it allowed signatories to "go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision with American execution."
What was Israel's alleged plan?
NYT spoke to multiple officials briefed on Israel's plans and confidential discussions inside the Trump administration wo spoke on condition of anonymity and stated that Israel long planned to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, including "rehearsing bombing runs and calculating how much damage it could do with or without American help."
This was escalated as support within the Israeli cabinet for a strike grew after Iran suffered a "string of setbacks" in 2024.
These setbacks included April's failed ballistic missile attack on Israel when most of their missiles were unable to penetrate American and Israeli defenses, as well as the "decimation" of Hezbollah, the fall of Bashar al-Assad's rule over Syria cutting off a prime weapons smuggling route for Iran, the destruction of air defense systems in Iran and Syria, and the destruction of facilities that Iran uses to make fuel for its ballistic missiles.
Senior Israeli officials reportedly updated American counterparts of a plan that would have combined a commando raid on underground nuclear sites with a bombing campaign, with Israel hoping that American aircraft would aid in the bombing.
However, Israeli military officials stated that the commando operation would not be carried out until October, with Netanyahu needing it carried out more quickly, NYT added.
Due to this, Israeli officials began shifting their proposal to an extended bombing campaign that would have required increased US assistance, according to officials brief on the plan cited by NYT.
Was there any support from Washington?
Some US officials were initially more open to Israel's plans, including US Central Command (CENTCOM)'s Commanding Officer Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, and Mike Waltz, the White House's National Security Adviser.
The US relocated six B-2 bombers, capable of carrying 30,000-pound bombs which are essential to destroying Iran's underground nuclear facilities, to Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean, with the administration considering moving additional fighter aircraft to the Middle East, potentially to the US Air Force base in Israel, the report added.
Earlier in April, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard presented a new intelligence assessment that a buildup of American weaponry in the Middle East could "potentially spark a wider conflict with Iran that the US did not want."
Doubts were also echoed by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and others, NYT added.
Reuters contributed to this report
