U.S. and Israeli officials reveal that the strike on Iran has been delayed by one week

PANews reports on March 2nd that, according to Jinshi, senior officials from the U.S. and Israel revealed that the initial plan to attack Iran was supposed to be executed a week earlier than it actually was. After the second round of U.S.-Iran talks ended on February 17th without significant progress, U.S. and Israeli military planners were preparing to strike on February 21st. However, the operation was never authorized. U.S. and Israeli officials stated that one key reason was the bad weather in the region. An Israeli official said the delay was mainly proposed by the U.S., related to better coordination with the Israel Defense Forces. The first strike targeted Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei and his son, as well as several meetings of senior Iranian officials, including the weekly Saturday meetings. An intelligence official said that the U.S. and Israel wanted to send a signal that there would be no immediate attack, so Khamenei and others would feel safe. The Geneva talks were intended to convince Iran that diplomacy remains Trump’s preferred path. Another Israeli official said the new strike date was set for tactical and operational reasons, and that the talks were genuine. If Trump had seen substantial progress in Geneva, he could have postponed the strike again.