Former CIA Director and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began lobbying for an attack on Iran as early as 2009. The disclosure came in an Al Jazeera report published Monday, where Gates recalled his interactions with Netanyahu during that period. Gates said that in July 2009, Netanyahu told him Iran’s regime was fragile and would collapse after a first strike.

Gates rejected Netanyahu’s assessment at the time, arguing that the Israeli leader underestimated Iran’s resilience and capacity to recover. He linked Netanyahu’s stance to Israel’s previous limited-response attacks in the Middle East, including the 1981 strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor and the 2007 attack on a Syrian nuclear facility.

According to Gates, those earlier incidents may have shaped an unrealistic perception within Israel about how Iran might respond to a similar assault.