As Donald Trump mulls bringing an end to the ongoing war with Iran, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly has been calling the US president ‘every day’, urging him to resume strikes on Tehran.
According to a report by the Financial Times, Netanyahu has been calling on Trump to resume strikes on Iran.
“Netanyahu calls him every day [to urge him to resume the war]. Those who don’t want a war within the White House and outside have been trying to combat that,” a person briefed on the discussions told FT. Track LIVE updates on US-Iran war here
According to the report, Netanyahu’s call also comes as Arab leaders are urging the US president to resort to diplomacy and end the war.
The phone calls to Trump come as the US continues to launch occasional strikes against Iran. The Islamic Republic’s Qeshm Island was struck by US missiles on November 6 and November 3.
While Trump did not explicitly refer to the November 6 strikes on Qeshm Island, the US president did confirm that Washington carried out a fresh attack.
“We do minor strikes, but they knock out. They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five,” Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Netanyahu’s call to resume the strikes on Iran also came after the war emerged as one of the key reasons why Trump’s GOP lost its stronghold in the US Congress. Furthermore, Netanyahu also remains in a sticky situation after the elections in Israel ended in a stalemate following the Likud leader’s failure to secure a majority.
Additionally, Netanyahu and Trump also had a call last week regarding their course of action on Iran, which US officials speaking to Axios, described as “frank.”
White House officials told Axios that Netanyahu called on Trump to strike Iran immediately after the midterm election result came in, but Trump decided to let negotiations play out.
Trump says strikes on Iran ‘unlikely’
Days after the major setback for Republicans in the midterm elections and US’ strikes on Qeshm Island, Donald Trump has stated that any fresh strikes against Iran would be “unlikely.”
“Iran militarily is effectively over,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing Monday. “We’re just keeping it the status quo.”
Trump’s remarks came after a closed-door meeting with Qatar’s PM Sheikh Mohammed regarding the current draft proposal to end the war.
Under this proposal, Iran has said it will allow free movement of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ports. Iran also called for the release of its frozen assets held overseas and restarting negotiations for a final deal, which would also address the nuclear question.
As per FT, Qatar’s leader was among the Arab heads of state who called on Trump to remain on the path for talks and not launch any new strikes against Iran.
Along with Qatar, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
