The report indicated Israel was seeking significant American support for preemptive strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, with aerial bombings backing up Israeli commando raids to destroy the Iranian sites. The viewpoint from Tel Aviv is that such a massive operation, envisioned to take a week, would not be successful without direct US assistance.

It was during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu's visit to the White House earlier this month that Trump informed the Israeli leader that instead he would pursue new diplomatic talks with Iran.

That's when Netanyahu made the strange and provocative statement that they should "go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision with American execution." Netanyahu departed Washington with no major wins - not even on the effort to get new tariffs on Israel removed or reduced.