US President Donald Trump has warned Netanyahu he has no say in any Iran deal, as Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel in the most serious breach of the ceasefire agreement
US President Donald Trump has declared that close ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no option but to accept any agreement the US reaches with Iran.
Trump, in an interview with the Financial Times, said: “He won’t have any choice. I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots.”
Trump’s comments came after Iran’s launch of ballistic missiles Israel, marking the most serious violation of the ceasefire agreement to date.
The US and Israel carried out joint strikes on several key Iranian sites on February 28. Iran retaliated by striking sites across the region and closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway.
A short-term ceasefire was brokered in April, yet the the US and Iran have so far failed to agree on a lasting peace settlement, reports the Express.
Trump also told Fox News that he would instruct Netanyahu to hold back from any retaliatory action against Iran, adding that Iran’s aggression had not dampened his determination to finalise a US-Iran deal.
“It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” he told the FT.
“We’ll see how it ends up. But they [the missile strikes on Israel] were attacks that did not kick at all.”
“I think the deal is going on,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens.”
“The deal may make it on its own merit, or not, but this will not have any effect on it.”
Asked what would happen if a deal failed “on its merits”, the US leader said a commando raid on Iran would be considered.
“It means two things,” he said. “Number one, it would mean that possibly we would go in and take care of the rest of the place that we didn’t take care of militarily. Or it would just mean that we would keep the blockade on Iran because the blockade has been probably more powerful than any attack that was ever made on that country.”
Trump’s remarks regarding Netanyahu follow the leaking of the contents of a heated phone call between the two leaders last week.
Trump reportedly told the Israeli prime minister during the call on Monday, June 1: “You’re f***ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me.”
“I’m saving your a**. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
