Information on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s exact whereabouts directly impacted the timing of the U.S.-Israeli strike that killed the Supreme Leader, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Wednesday. The disclosure offers a chilling look into the intelligence coordination that led to Operation Epic Fury, revealing that the fate of the Iranian regime was sealed during a previously undisclosed phone call between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to reports, the critical turning point occurred on February 23, 2026. During a private call, Netanyahu informed Trump that Khamenei and his entire inner circle were scheduled to meet at a single, vulnerable location in Tehran on Saturday morning.
A “Once-in-a-Lifetime” Target
The intelligence provided by Netanyahu described a “rare and devastating target of opportunity.” While Trump had already been leaning toward military action, the knowledge that the entire Iranian leadership would be gathered in one place accelerated the U.S. planning timeline.
The Verification
Trump reportedly ordered an immediate CIA check to confirm the Israeli tip. By the following Thursday, U.S. intelligence fully verified that the senior leadership would indeed be gathered at the specified compound on Pasteur Street.
On the same day the intel was confirmed, Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, called from Geneva to report that negotiations with Iranian officials had hit a dead end.
The Final Order
Convinced that diplomacy was dead and the intelligence was solid, Trump gave the final order to attack at 3:38 p.m. EST on Friday. Eleven hours later, the bombs fell.
The White House Defends the Timing
During Wednesday’s press briefing, Karoline Leavitt was pressed on how much the Netanyahu call influenced the President’s decision to bypass Congress and launch the strike. Leavitt asserted that while the call was “important with respect to the timeline,” Trump already had a “good feeling” that Iran was planning an imminent attack on U.S. assets.
“These decisions are not made in a vacuum,” Leavitt told reporters. “The president had a feeling that Iran was going to strike first… the intelligence on the location simply allowed us to neutralize that threat before they could act.”
Operation Epic Fury: A Resounding Success?
As the war enters its fifth day, the White House is framing the assassination as a masterstroke of precision. Leavitt claimed that 49 of the most senior Iranian regime leaders have been “wiped off the face of the Earth.” However, the “muddled messaging” surrounding the strike, and the fact that thousands of Americans were caught in the region without an evacuation plan, have led to fierce criticism from lawmakers who argue the “Netanyahu tip” may have dragged the U.S. into a conflict before it was ready.
With Mojtaba Khamenei now emerging as the frontrunner to succeed his father, the U.S. and Israel have made it clear: no location is safe, and no successor is off-limits.
