US President Donald Trump said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will have no choice” but to accept any agreement the United States reaches with Iran, stressing that the final decision on this matter rests with him as President of the United States.
In a telephone interview with the Financial Times, Trump said: “He will have no choice. I make the decisions. I make all the decisions, not him.”
Trump's remarks came shortly after Iran launched volleys of ballistic missiles toward Israel, in its first such attack since a ceasefire agreement went into effect on April 8, in response to Israel's targeting of the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
In separate remarks to Fox News on Sunday evening, Trump urged Iran to return to the negotiating table following the missile attack, hinting that an agreement could be reached “within days.”
Trump also confirmed that he would ask Netanyahu to refrain from a military response to Iran, saying that the Iranian attack did not result in any casualties, and considering that any Israeli response could threaten ongoing diplomatic efforts and lead to a new escalation in the region.
These statements contradict the positions issued by the Israeli army, which indicated that Israel is considering a response to the Iranian missile attack.
Trump addressed Iran, saying: “You have launched your missiles, and that’s enough. Come back to the negotiating table and make a deal.”
Trump told Iran: “You have launched your missiles, and that’s enough. Come back to the negotiating table and make a deal.”
He explained that the agreement between the United States and Tehran could be signed “on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.”
When asked about the scenario if the agreement fails, Trump said he might consider launching a special military operation inside Iran, or continuing the policy of “siege,” which he described as more effective than any previous military strike.
He added that he was “not happy” about Israel’s bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier on Sunday.
The US president claimed that the Israeli bombing of Beirut “was not coordinated with the United States.”
Trump told Netanyahu on Sunday that the Iranian missile attack should not be met with a response, calling for more time to be given to the diplomatic track, according to a senior US official and an Israeli source familiar with the details of the call.
According to the sources, Trump told Netanyahu during a phone call that he needed to be patient and not escalate, in light of American efforts to reach an agreement with Tehran on the nuclear issue.
According to Axios, Trump had stated before the call that he intended to urge Netanyahu not to respond to the Iranian attack, which Tehran said was in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Beirut earlier that day.
During the call, Trump said, according to the official, that Washington was “close to reaching something good with regard to the agreement,” stressing the need not to undermine the chances of reaching an understanding with Iran.
The source indicated that Netanyahu initially expressed reservations, but later indirectly agreed to de-escalate and not carry out an immediate response.
The official also explained that the call was calmer compared to a previous call between the two sides, and there was no tension or raised voice from Trump.
A US official said: “We believe the president has bought some time, and he insists that we are close to an agreement with Iran, and we do not expect an imminent Israeli strike.”
He added: “We are at a critical moment, so why risk derailing a potential agreement when we are in its final stages? The president believes that we have been dealing with this issue for three months, and it is time to finish it.”
Trump said: “The Iranian missile attack did not hit anyone. I hope Israel does not retaliate. If Bibi (Netanyahu) retaliates, events will continue and escalate as they have for the past 47 years, or even the past 3,000 years.”
He stressed that they were close to reaching a final agreement with Iran, adding: “It will be a good agreement. I don’t want this process to collapse because of what is happening now.”
He added: “I will call Bibi and ask him not to respond. Both sides have done what they had to do; Israel carried out its attack, and Iran carried out its attack. We don’t need another attack.”
Trump: “The Iranian missile attack didn’t hit anyone. I hope Israel doesn’t retaliate. If Bibi (Netanyahu) does retaliate, then things will continue and escalate as they have for the past 47 years, or even the past 3,000 years.”
On Sunday evening, Iran launched three salvos of missiles toward northern Israel, according to Hebrew media reports, in the first strike since the start of the truceApril 8.
Channel 12 Hebrew reported that Iran launched three salvos of missiles towards Israel.
She explained that one of the shipments included four missiles.
The Israeli channel reported news of “damage” in the city of Tiberias, while it was decided to halt air traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
The Iranian army announced in a statement that it had targeted the Ramat David airbase in Israel with ballistic missiles.
He said that targeting the base came “in response to the massacres committed by the Zionist entity against civilians in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.”
For its part, the Israeli army said in separate statements that it had detected missile launches from Iran, and that its air defense systems were working to intercept them, before later announcing that it had detected two additional batches of missiles.
In this context, the Hebrew Broadcasting Authority reported the cancellation of studies throughout Israel.
Explosions were heard in the skies over the cities of Haifa and Nazareth as a result of missile interception operations.
Israeli officials told the broadcasting authority that Tel Aviv “will respond to the Iranian attack,” quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that “there is no chance of not responding” to the attack.
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