US President Donald Trump said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept the agreement that the United States is negotiating with Iran, because, as he emphasized, the US president is the one who makes the decisions.
“He won’t have a choice,” Trump said in a telephone interview with the Financial Times (FT).
"I decide. I decide everything. He (Netanyahu) doesn't make decisions."
Trump spoke to the FT shortly after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel, the most serious violation of a ceasefire reached in early April.
The US president separately told Fox News that he would order Netanyahu to refrain from retaliating against Iran, a stance that contradicts earlier statements from the Israeli military.
Trump said the Iranian attacks have not changed his desire to conclude US-Iranian negotiations.
"It will have no impact on the agreement," he told the FT.
"We'll see how it all ends. But those (the rocket attacks on Israel) were attacks that didn't hit the target at all. It's one of those things that's been going on for 3.000 years, or 47 years, depending on how you count," he added.
However, unlike his stance in early April, when US Vice President J.D. Vance led the first negotiations with Iran, Trump did not sound as confident this time that an agreement was within reach.
"I think negotiations are ongoing," he said. "We'll see what happens."
He stressed that the Iranian attack on Sunday would not affect his assessment of the situation.
"An agreement may or may not be reached, depending on its qualities, but this will have no impact," he said.
When asked what would happen if such a deal failed "on its own merits," Trump said he would consider a commando operation against Iran.
"That means one of two things... First, it could mean that we might go there and finish the job on those parts that we haven't solved militarily. Or it could simply mean that we would continue the blockade of Iran, because that blockade was probably more powerful than any attack that has ever been launched against that country," he replied.
Trump's statements about Netanyahu came after the Axios website published leaked details of a very acrimonious conversation between the two leaders last week.
As one US official described it, Trump told Netanyahu: "You're f... crazy. You'd be in jail if it weren't for me. Now everyone hates you. Everyone hates Israel because of this."
In an interview with the FT, Trump confirmed that the conversation took place and did not dispute the way it was presented.
Despite several U.S.-brokered ceasefires between Israel and Lebanon, including one that took effect last week, Trump has failed to prevent Israel from carrying out near-daily strikes on targets in Lebanon, including an attack earlier Sunday on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.
The Iranian attacks were carried out in response to that strike. Iran has said that a permanent ceasefire by Israel is a prerequisite for any agreement between the United States and Iran, the newspaper said.
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