Latest news with #IranNuclearIssue
Telegraph
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump: I knew about Israel's plans all along
Donald Trump said he was kept informed of Israel's plans to strike Iran even as he publicly called for a new nuclear deal and warned against fresh military action. The US president held phone calls with Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and Thursday yet continued to say he hoped for a diplomatic solution that would prevent Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. The result was a public smokescreen that allowed the US to get diplomats to safety and protect American interests, according to a string of sources familiar with the president's thinking. One former senior administration official said Mr Trump was happy to play good cop, advocating for more talks, while Mr Netanyahu played bad cop. 'This was very much a case of, if Israel's going to do it and do the dirty work and do what we essentially want done, then he's happy with that,' he said. Mr Trump spoke with Mr Netanyahu on Thursday, hours before the strikes began. Asked what kind of heads-up he was given, Mr Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Friday morning: 'Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on.' Yet Mr Trump kept up a stream of public comments about the prospects for talks. 'We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue,' he posted on his Truth Social site. 'My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran.' His officials quietly briefed reporters that Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, was to travel to Oman for the sixth round of talks. And he told journalists in the East Room of the Oval Office that strikes could derail delicately poised talks. Israel and US coordinated closely Yet at the same time, American diplomats were preparing for Iranian retaliation to strikes. Non-essential staff were ordered to leave the embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and families began flying home from other diplomatic posts in the region. Simone Ledeen, former deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East under Mr Trump, said the sequencing, posture changes and the president's own comments made it clear that the US and Israel had coordinated closely. The result was an operation to degrade Iranian capability while preserving American flexibility. 'Trump doesn't want war. He's made that clear,' she said. 'But that doesn't mean sitting on the sidelines. 'It means using all tools—intelligence, timing, messaging—to support an ally while protecting American interests.' It also appeared that Israel was acting on a two-month deadline issued by Mr Trump in a letter sent to Tehran in March. The strikes were launched 60 days after talks with Iran began on April 12. Mr Trump said on Friday: 'I told the other side, I said, you have 60 days to make the deal. On the 61st day, they attacked. Today is 61 actually, and it was a very successful attack.' Just before heading into the White House Situation Room, he said it could even improve the chances of forcing Iran to end its nuclear ambitions. When he was asked by Axios whether the attack had destroyed any chance of reaching a deal with Tehran, he said: 'I don't think so. Maybe the opposite. Maybe now they will negotiate seriously.' The website also reported that Israeli officials had been spreading rumours that Mr Trump was quietly nodding through the plans, while maintaining a public veneer of opposition. The White House denies that this is the case. The president has political concerns at home to balance too. He was elected on an America First platform with promises to end US entanglements overseas. Loyalists such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hardline congresswoman from Georgia, have warned that he is in danger of being suckered by the Washington establishment into giving up on that commitment. On Thursday night, the result was reportedly a debate about how best to deliver a statement on the strikes amid tensions between Maga and Neocon parts of Trump world. In the end, it fell to Marco Rubio, Mr Trump's secretary of state and a hawkish voice on Iran. 'Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran,' he said. 'We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.' Mr Trump was mingling with guests at the congressional barbecue on the South Lawn of the White House when news of the strikes spread. 'I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done,' he posted on Truth Social at 5.56am. But he already faces questions from supporters about where this leaves his campaign promises. 'How does the America First foreign policy doctrine and foreign policy agenda … stay consistent with this right now?' Charlie Kirk, a Maga influencer and ally of the president said. Tucker Carlson, a long-time friend of Mr Trump wrote in his morning newsletter: 'Drop Israel. Let them fight their own wars ... It is not America's fight.'
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Japan ‘strongly condemns' Israel's attack on Iran
TOKYO: Japan has joined in the condemnation of Israel's attack on Iran with Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya saying the attack 'escalates the situation' in the Middle East, Japan's Foreign Ministry reported. 'We deeply regret that military force was used despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, including talks between the US and Iran, to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue,' Iwaya said. 'Our country strongly condemns this action, which escalates the situation.' Iwaya emphasized that peace and stability in the Middle East are 'extremely important' to Japan and urged all parties involved to exercise maximum restraint. He called for de-escalation of the situation, adding that the Japanese government will spare no effort to protect Japanese nationals residing in the region. 'We will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent further deterioration of the situation,' he said. • This article also appears on Arab News Japan
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Israel is just getting started, but can a weakened Iran respond?
Israel's warplanes were in the air barely two hours after Donald Trump, the US president, had laid out the case for continuing talks with Iran at the weekend. 'We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue,' he posted on his Truth Social site. 'My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran.' Had Benjamin Netanyahu, the headstrong prime minister of Israel, not got the memo? Or was he sending a clear signal to Washington that he was not going to take orders from anyone. As ever in the Middle East's quagmire of religious strife and decades of power struggles, it was all a lot more complicated than that. The Americans had been forewarned that Israel had run out of patience with Iran and its deadly pursuit of nuclear weapons. Just a day earlier, the State Department had announced it was reducing its diplomatic footprint in Baghdad and other regional facilities, Mr Trump warning the Middle East 'could be a dangerous place'. The US president was asked directly whether Israeli strikes were imminent. 'Well, I don't want to say imminent,' he told reporters in the East Room of the White House, 'but it looks like it's something that could very well happen'. Strikes, he said, could upset delicately poised negotiations. Or, maybe, he mused, it 'might help it actually'. So when explosions echoed across Iran early on Friday morning, Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu were settling into rather familiar roles. The American president had spent the day as good cop – talking up the idea of a negotiated settlement and trying to keep his people in the region from becoming targets. However, while officials said negotiators were on their way to Oman for a sixth round of talks on Sunday – he was happy to let the Israeli prime minister play the bad cop, pulling the trigger. 'In my assessment, the timing of an Israeli strike on Iran reflects a convergence of interests between Trump and Netanyahu,' said Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official. 'From Trump's perspective, as long as the US is not directly militarily involved, there is an advantage to a situation in which Israel takes military action aimed at forcing the Iranian regime back to negotiations from a significantly weaker position. 'The one who will pay the price for this move is Israel.' As he announced Operation Rising Lion to his nation, Mr Netanyahu set out the scale of the threat just a few hundred miles away. For decades, the tyrants of Tehran have 'brazenly, openly called for Israel's destruction,' he said, describing how their weapons programme had produced enough highly enriched uranium for nine nuclear bombs. The strikes, said Gabriel Noronha, president of POLARIS National Security and a former adviser to the State Department, were simply the first in maybe a week of attacks, starting with command and control centres, top leadership, and aerospace headquarters that would have launched drone and missile retaliation. The question now is whether Iran will have the ability or the intent to strike US facilities or at any of the 40,000 military personnel in the Persian Gulf and the rest of the Middle East. 'They've threatened the US for a long time,' Mr Noronha said. 'The question is whether they will have the munitions and the capability to strike US bases or they say, 'We barely have enough to inflict damage on Israel. We're going to keep it at that.'' Either way, it is just the start.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Trump says US remains committed to a diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear issue
June 12 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States remains committed to resolving the Iran nuclear issue through diplomacy, but added that the Islamic Republic must first give up hopes of building a nuclear weapon. "We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran. They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon," he added.
