Benjamin Netanyahu denied that Israel dragged Donald Trump into war with Iran while claiming the US was not involved in an attack on the world’s largest natural gas field.
Netanyahu spoke to the press Thursday after former Trump counter-intelligence official Joe Kent blamed Israel for convincing Trump to join the ongoing conflict.
The Israeli prime minister made a point to speak about the recent accusations, calling them ‘fake news.’
‘Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do? Come on. President Trump always makes his decisions based on what is good for America and what is good for future generations,’ he said.
‘In this case, those interests are absolutely clear and so is the clarity of our achievements. Together in close coordination with President Trump, close coordination between America and Israel, our militaries, our intelligence services, we’re achieving goals in lightning speed.’
Netanyahu also said he would heed the president’s warning to not go after oil infrastructure in the region after Trump criticized the strike on the South Pars gas field in Iran.
The prime minister insisted that Israel ‘acted alone’ and 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 disagreements between him and Trump.
Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to put Israel back on the same page with the United States, as the Israeli prime minister strongly denied that he dragged Donald Trump into war with Iran
Netanyahu also said he would heed the president’s warning to not go after oil infrastructure in the region after Trump criticized the strike on the South Pars gas field in Iran
‘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,’ Netanyahu said at a news conference in Jerusalem. ‘You know who else said that? President Trump.’
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.’
The president made headlines late Wednesday night in clarifying that he had no say in the attack on South Pars.
During an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday, Trump told reporters that he neither agreed with nor approved of Israel’s attack on the world’s largest gas field.
‘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.’
Two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly told the Associated Press that the US was made aware of Israel’s plan ahead of the attack.
Netanyahu spoke to the press Thursday after former Trump counter-intelligence official Joe Kent blamed Israel for getting Trump to join in the strikes
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’
One of the people said Israel’s targets are being coordinated with the US.
Top US administration officials on Thursday made the case that Trump is simpatico with Netanyahu, but is ultimately guided in his Iran strategy by what he believes is in the US national security interest.
The US air campaign has focused on decimating Iran’s missile program, pummeling its already beleaguered nuclear program and destroying its navy.
Israel, meanwhile, has carried out one high-level assassination after another as it looks to topple the Islamic authority that has led the country since 1979.
The prime minister has framed the moment as an opportunity to usher in a new era in the Middle East — one in which the government in Tehran is run by a more moderate leadership that is not hostile to Israel.
Netanyahu is buoyed by an Israeli public that is far more supportive of the war than the American public. That gives him the political leeway to support a sustained operation that could deliver a decisive blow to Iran’s clerical rule.
Though Trump has offered shifting, myriad reasons for the conflict, he’s consistently articulated that ensuring that Iran ‘never has a nuclear weapon’ is his primary objective.
‘The objectives that have been laid out by the president are different from the objectives that have been laid out by the Israeli government,’ Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard noted to House intelligence committee members on Thursday, when asked during a hearing about the White House position on the gas field strike.
Smoke and flames rise from the South Pars gas field following an Israeli strike
Iran responded by hitting the Qatar-owned LNG gas facilities
Trump, in contrast with Netanyahu, has cooled on the prospects of toppling Iran’s clerical authority and paving the way for a more moderate government.
It’s been a significant evolution for the president from the start of the US and Israeli bombardment, when he confidently told Iranians that they would soon have an opportunity to rid themselves from the clerical rule of the past 47 years.
But in a Fox News Radio interview last week, Trump was far more measured about the pathway ahead for opponents of the Islamic government and expressed concerns about the paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in crushing recent nationwide protests, maintaining its grip as a menacing force in Iran.
‘So, I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons. I think it’s a very big hurdle,’ Trump said.
Asked by host Brian Kilmeade if he agreed with Netanyahu’s calls for Iranians to take back their country, Trump made clear he didn’t think they were ready to rise up. ‘I would think that Bibi would understand that too,’ Trump added.
Over the course of Trump’s five years in the White House, Netanyahu has arguably been his most steadfast ally among foreign leaders. The Israeli leader, for his part, never misses an opportunity to gush that the Jewish state has never had a more reliable friend in the White House.
But over the last three weeks, Trump and aides have acknowledged the two countries come at the war differently. And Trump has said those differences are natural.
‘You know, they’re there, and we’re very far away,’ Trump noted.
