Benjamin Netanyahu’s hawkish associates are scrambling to pressure the Israeli prime minister into derailing Donald Trump’s looming peace deal with Tehran as the agreement nears finalization, potentially today.
Netanyahu’s national security minister Ben Gvir said the Israeli leader must ‘bang on Trump’s table and inform him that we are returning to war in Lebanon.’ His statement comes amid reports that a US-Iran deal would forge a comprehensive Middle East peace, including an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Other leading figures in Israel are also pressuring Netanyahu to sabotage the peace effort, including opposition leader Yair Lapid.
He blasted the proposed US-Iran agreement as ‘bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran,’ warning it fails to constrain Tehran’s nuclear program, missile stockpiles, or support for regional proxies.
Lapid also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of losing Trump’s confidence and being sidelined from the decision-making.
Israeli opposition to a deal comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday the US may have news to announce ‘maybe today’ about finalizing an agreement with the regime. Rubio told reporters there is a ‘pretty solid thing on the table’ covering the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and a time-limited nuclear negotiation.
Trump blasted critics who suggested his agreement would mirror the 2015 Obama-era nuclear pact that he tore up during his first term.
‘The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal. It will be the exact opposite of the JCPOA disaster negotiated by the failed Obama Administration, which was a direct and open path to a Nuclear Weapon for Iran. No, I don’t do deals like that!’ Trump wrote.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s hawkish associates are scrambling to pressure the Israeli prime minister into derailing Donald Trump’s looming peace deal with Tehran as the agreement nears finalization, potentially today
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11
Rubio told reporters there is a ‘pretty solid thing on the table’ covering the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and a time-limited nuclear negotiation
Netanyahu’s national security minister Ben Gvir said the Israeli leader must ‘bang on Trump’s table and inform him that we are returning to war in Lebanon’
