Donald Trump has brutally slapped down a suggestion by Benjamin Netanyahu that the US should incite a bloody street revolution to topple the Iranian regime.
‘Why the hell should we tell people to take to the streets when they’ll just get mowed down,’ Trump told Netanyahu during a call last week, according to a US official.
While Israel lists regime change as one of its primary objectives, the US has quietly created distance with Jerusalem despite Trump urging a revolution as the war began.
The contentious call came just hours after Iran‘s security chief Ali Larijani last Tuesday. Netanyahu told Trump the regime was in disarray and that their was a window for a popular uprising, a US official and Israeli source told Axios.
But Trump feared a massacre after thousands of Iranians were slaughtered by paramilitary forces during anti-regime protests before the war started.
Netanyahu and Trump agreed to wait and see if the Iranians would come out during the annual festival of fire without encouragement, a source said.
But Netanyahu proceeded anyway, stating on TV: ‘Our aircraft are striking terrorist operatives on the ground, on roads and in public squares. This is meant to allow the brave Iranian people to celebrate the Festival of Fire. So go out and celebrate…we are watching from above.’
The break with Trump comes amid a widening gap between the two leaders, with Netanyahu holding a secret meeting with his generals and urging a 48-hour blitz on Israel’s top targets in Iran as the President appears intent on finding a swift peace.
Donald Trump points his finger towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they shake hands during a press conference after meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 29
Netanyahu met with Israeli commanders at a bunker deep inside the bowels of Tel Aviv on Tuesday after viewing Trump’s 15-point peace plan.
The Israeli prime minister and his top military advisers were alarmed the US plan did not go far enough to curb Tehran’s military capabilities.
Netanyahu’s Thursday deadline reflects deep concern within the Israeli government that Trump could reach a deal with Tehran at any moment, sources say.
Israeli officials present at Netanyahu’s underground meeting described the atmosphere as ‘tense.’
Iran rejected the proposal on Wednesday, but Trump remains bullish on deal and Israeli media has reported that a ceasefire could come as early as next Saturday.
Netanyahu’s inner circle is intent on reaching three key war goals: eliminating Iran’s ballistic-missile stockpile, ensuring Tehran cannot develop a nuclear warhead, and fostering an environment within Iran for civilians to overthrow the Islamic regime.
‘If you do not obtain the three objectives, you will not be able to end the war,’ said Boaz Bismuth, a member of Netanyahu’s party.
Pentagon chiefs ordered around 2,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East last night to join some 4,500 Marines already en route to the region, as Trump’s peace push shows signs of collapse.
Benjamin Netanyahu from his bunker in Tel Aviv gave Israeli commanders a 48-hour deadline to destroy Iran’s weapons industry
Israel is engaging in a wide range of military strikes across the Middle East, including in Gaza and Lebanon, where Iran’s proxies are active against Netanyahu’s forces (pictured: a fireball erupts following an Israeli strike near a tent encampment sheltering people displaced by war in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on March 25)
Netanyahu’s Thursday deadline reflects deep concern within the Israeli government that Trump could reach a deal with Tehran at any moment
The President is prepared to pull the trigger on a full-scale invasion if Tehran continues to rebuff his diplomatic overtures, according to members of his inner circle.
‘Trump has a hand open for a deal, and the other is a fist, waiting to punch you in the f***ing face,’ a Trump aide told Axios.
The 15-point plan, modeled on Trump’s Gaza deal, would require Iran to dismantle all nuclear and long-range missile capabilities, open the Strait of Hormuz, and abandon proxy terror groups.
But Iranian state TV on Wednesday said that the regime had rejected the ceasefire proposal. Instead, Tehran is demanding the closure of all US bases in the Gulf, reparations, and an end to Israeli military strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Tehran is also seeking to bring the strait – a chokepoint for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil – under its control, allowing it to charge transit fees on passing vessels, much like Egypt does with the Suez Canal.
A Trump official described Iran’s demands as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘unrealistic’, warning that reaching a deal is now more difficult than before the war began as the President prepares a potential ground invasion force.
US and Iranian diplomats have not spoken through direct contact and instead communicate via Middle Eastern intermediaries from Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia has made clear that ceding control of the Strait of Hormuz is a non-starter, with Riyadh urging Trump to stay in the fight.
Netanyahu’s inner circle is intent on reaching three key war goals: eliminating Iran’s ballistic-missile stockpile, ensuring Tehran cannot develop a nuclear warhead, and fostering an environment within Iran for civilians to overthrow the Islamic regime
Smoke and flames rise at the site of airstrikes on an oil depot in Tehran
Speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf in Tehran, Iran, February 1
The Trump administration appears to have created distance with their regime change goal after strikes against senior leadership have failed to overthrow the government
Israeli strikes in Gaza earlier on Wednesday
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly urged Trump to finish the Islamic regime in calls over the last week, including the use of ground forces to seize Iran’s energy sites.
Iran remains wary of Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, accusing the pair of ‘backstabbing’ Tehran in negotiations ahead of the US and Israel’s strikes on February 28.
Iranian officials are pushing for Vice President JD Vance to lead the US negotiating team, believing he is sympathetic after privately expressing doubts about Operation Epic Fury.
