As the US and Israel continue to pummel Iran, a report has claimed that there are differences of opinion between the countries regarding the goals of the war and the targets to be attacked.
Though US President Donald Trump and CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper warned Israel not to attack the large oil tanks outside Tehran, fearing that it would provoke Iran to attack other energy facilities in the Gulf in retaliation. However, Israel ignored this and attacked the depots a week ago, which caused huge fires and a rise in oil prices. The White House, it was written, was convinced that Netanyahu "wanted dramatic scenes of Tehran covered in black smoke of destruction.”
According to a White House official, Israel hoped that this would create internal chaos in the Iranian leadership. However, what happened was that Iran used drones to attack oil refining and storage facilities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - attacks that led to the cessation of oil loading at the port of Fujairah on Saturday, one of the Emirates' largest export terminals.
Iran has said that the attack on the Fujairah port was carried out in response to US attacks on the Iranian "oil island" Kharg Island, even though Washington avoided damaging the oil itself.
The report added that since the war with Iran began, Trump has spoken daily with Netanyahu - but also frequently with other leaders in the Middle East, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to several sources in Washington, the Saudi leader advised Trump to "continue to strike hard at Iran." The report cites he was repeating the advice given to the United States by bin Salman's uncle, King Abdullah, who died in 2015: "Cut off the head of the snake.”
The New York Times emphasised that Trump is facing fateful decisions in the war, after the US and Israel have so far achieved significant damage to Iran's missile arsenal, navy, and air defence systems, but failed to ensure the same damage to its nuclear program, as most of Iran's 60 per cent enriched uranium is still stored in tunnels in Isfahan.