US President Donald Trump has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have “no choice” but to accept any agreement reached between the United States and Iran, according to the Financial Times.
Trump said Washington, not Israel, would decide the outcome of talks with Tehran. He made the remarks during a telephone interview with the British daily shortly after Iran fired a wave of ballistic missiles at Israel.
“He won’t have any choice,” Trump was quoted as saying. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”
When asked whether the missile attacks would affect US willingness to continue negotiations with Iran, Trump said they would not influence the process.
“I think the deal is going on. We’ll see what happens,” he said, adding that any agreement would depend on its own terms and the strikes would not change his position.
Trump also played down the impact of the attacks, saying they “did not kick at all.” He described the Iran-Israel conflict as “one of those things that’s been going for 3,000 years, or 47 years, depending on how you count.”
Asked what would happen if negotiations failed, Trump said there were two options. One involved military action to address what he called unfinished objectives in Iran. The other was maintaining a blockade on the country.
“The blockade has been probably more powerful than any attack that was ever made on that country,” he said.
The remarks came after US media outlet Axios reported last week on a tense phone call between Trump and Netanyahu.
Citing a US official, the report said Trump told Netanyahu: “You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
Trump confirmed to the Financial Times that the call took place but did not dispute the account.
Meanwhile, despite several US-brokered ceasefires between Israel and Lebanon, Israel has continued near-daily strikes inside Lebanese territory. On Sunday, Israel carried out another strike on a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.
Iran said its latest missile attacks on Israel were in response to that strike.
