Over the past 48 hours, Israel has asked the Trump administration to join the war against Iran in order to eliminate the country’s nuclear program. This has been reported by two Israeli officials.

Israel reportedly lacks the advanced bombs and heavy bombers needed to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Fordow, which is built deep inside a mountain complex.

The US, on the other hand, has these resources available in the immediate area, but the Trump administration has so far publicly distanced itself from Israel’s operation, arguing that it would be illegitimate for Iran to retaliate by attacking US targets.

A direct US attack on Iran – even if limited to a single facility – would, according to analysts, definitely draw the US into the war.

Israel is determined to “eliminate” Iran’s nuclear program, and if the Fordow facility remains operational even after the ongoing bombing campaign, the operation will be considered at least a partial failure, according to analysts.

An Israeli official told Axios that the US may join the war and that President Trump, in a recent conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even suggested that he would do so if deemed necessary.

“Cannot be prevented”

However, a White House spokesman denied these plans on Friday. Another US official confirmed on Saturday that Israel has urged the Trump administration to join the war, but said the administration is not currently considering it.

– Whatever happens today cannot be prevented, a senior official said on Saturday, referring to the Israeli bombings.

– But we have the ability to negotiate a successful peaceful resolution to this conflict if Iran is willing. The fastest way for Iran to accomplish peace is to give up its nuclear weapons program, he continued.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, told Fox News on Friday that “the entire operation… really has to be completed with the elimination of Fordow”.

According to Israeli sources, the proposal for US participation in striking the Fordow facility has been discussed on several occasions with the US since the attacks began. An Israeli source says that the US is seriously considering this request and that Israel is now hoping for Trump’s approval.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump warned Iran against attacking American interests and promised a powerful military response if it did so.

“If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US armed forces will come down on you at levels never seen before”, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

On Saturday, Israel continued its bombing campaign, attacking Iran’s defense ministry headquarters in Tehran and a natural gas processing facility linked to the South Pars gas field in Bushehr province.

Trump continued to claim that the US was not involved in Israel’s attacks but asserted that he could “easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel and end this conflict”

At the same time, Iran announced that it was suspending the sixth round of nuclear negotiations with Washington with immediate effect.

29 children killed by Israeli missile

At least four people were killed and over 100 injured in the Israeli coastal city of Bat Yam after an Iranian missile attack during the night, according to the city’s mayor on Sunday morning as rescue efforts were still ongoing.

Israel’s ambulance service reported that at least seven people were killed in the country during the night, including a 10-year-old boy and a woman in her 20s. Over 140 people were injured in several attacks.

In Tehran, an Israeli missile struck a high-rise building, killing at least 60 people, including 29 children, according to Iranian authorities. In an earlier attack near a home in northern Israel, three women were reported killed and ten others injured.

In response to the attacks, Tehran fired another volley of missiles at Israel. Iranian missiles reached Israeli airspace in an attack that, according to Israeli emergency services, killed four people in an apartment building in the Galilee region. Waves of Iranian attacks began on Saturday and continued through the night and into the early morning hours, but it remains unclear how many buildings were hit in total.