US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel will not strike Iran’s South Pars gas field again unless Tehran retaliates (Picture: Anadolu via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel will not strike Iran’s South Pars gas field again unless Tehran retaliates (Picture: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fire breaks out at the Shahran oil depot after US and Israeli attacks in Tehran,Iran (Picture: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Trump,during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi,told reporters that he neither agreed with nor approved of Israel’s attack.
‘I told him,“Don’t do that”,’ Trump said of Netanyahu’s decision to strike.
‘We get along great. It’s coordinated,but on occasion he’ll do something. And if I don’t like it — and so we’re not doing that anymore.’
Netanyahu said Israel ‘acted alone’ and that he’s agreed to Trump’s request that Israel hold off on any further attack on Iran’s giant gas field.
The prime minister also sought to downplay any space between him and Trump.
‘It’s been said that for 40 years I’ve been saying that Iran is a danger to Israel and a danger to the world. That is true,’ he said.
‘You know who else said that? President Trump.’
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago (Picture: AP)
Netanyahu later added: ‘Look,I don’t think any two leaders have been as coordinated as President Trump and I. He’s the leader. I’m his ally. America is the leader.
‘Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?’
The Israeli leader also set out his three goals for the war in Iran: ‘One,removing the nuclear threat.
‘Second,removing the ballistic missile threat,and removing both of these threats before they’re buried deep underground and become immune from aerial attack.
‘And third,this means creating the conditions for the Iranian people to grasp their freedom,to control their destiny.’
Netanyahu said Iran is ‘weaker than ever’ three weeks into the war,but that it is still too soon to tell whether Iranians would take to the streets to try to overthrow their government.
‘It’s up to the Iranian people to show that,to choose the moment and to rise to the moment,’ he said.
The Israeli PM said air strikes alone would not topple the regime,and suggested boots on the ground may be required to finish the job.
‘There has to be a ground component as well,he said. ‘There are many possibilities for this ground component,and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities.’
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