Shifting views & misdirection

HOW TRUMP DECIDED TO STRIKE IRAN

- Mark Mazzetti, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper

WASHINGTON - Standing at the lectern in the White House briefing room on the afternoon of June 19, Ms. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, read a message she said came "directly from the President."

Because of the "substantial chance of negotiations" with Iran that could bring the United States back from the brink of jumping into war in the Middle East, President Donald Trump's statement said, he would decide whether to strike Iran "within the next two weeks."

Mr. Trump had been under pressure from the non-interventionist wing of his party to stay out of the conflict, and was having lunch that day with one of the most outspoken opponents of a bombing campaign, Mr. Steve Bannon, fueling speculation that he might hold off.

It was almost entirely a deception. Mr. Trump had all but made up his mind to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, and the military preparations were well under way for the complex attack. Less than 30 hours after Ms. Leavitt relayed his statement, he would give the order for an assault that put the U.S. in the middle of the latest conflict to break out in one of the world's most volatile regions.

Mr. Trump's "two weeks" statement was just one aspect of a broader effort at political and military misdirection that took place over eight chaotic days, from the first Israeli strikes against Iran to the moment when a fleet of B-2 stealth bombers took off from Missouri for the first U.S. military strikes inside Iran since that country's theocratic revolution in 1979.

Interviews with administration officials, Trump allies and advisers, Pentagon officials and others familiar with the events show how, during this period, different factions of Mr. Trump's allies jockeyed to win over a president who was listing in all directions over whether to choose war, diplomacy or some combination of both.

Outsiders tried to divine which faction was ascendant based on whom Mr. Trump met with at any given time.