President Trump gave the final go-ahead to strike Iran on Saturday afternoon at his private club in New Jersey, the Wall Street Journal reported.

His order came after he said he would make a decision on the matter in two weeks.

“The goal was to create a situation when everyone wasn’t expecting it,” said a senior administration official.

The decision was made after direct coordination with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the report said.

A U.S. official said that the Trump administration conveyed to Iran that the strikes were a one-time attack, not the start of a war.

Last Tuesday, Trump approved plans to strike Iran but withheld a final order.

“There was real debate earlier in the week about what we should do,” said the senior official. “But Trump signaled on Tuesday he was leaning toward going forward, so that changed everything.”

According to the report, Trump made the decision to proceed with the operation after Iran continued to spurn his demands to drop its uranium enrichment program.

Iran has vowed revenge on the US. Trump warned that he will carry out additional strikes on Iran if retaliatory strikes are carried out against US forces in the region.

“Future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,” he warned. “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)