Trump has been unclear on the key driving force behind his pressure campaign against Iran
Just a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington to do his best to get Washington to embrace his maximalist demands during negotiations with Iran, reports out of Israel said Monday that the White House has been informed by Israelis that they could “strike alone if Iran crosses the red line we set on ballistic missiles.”
The Jerusalem Post, citing Israeli security sources, reported that the country is not currently at that threshold. One source called the moment a “historic opportunity” to carry out the strike.
Iran has called its civilian nuclear program and ballistic missiles not up for discussion. Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, said ballistic missiles are “purely a defensive matter for us. It is not negotiable, neither now nor in the future, because regional issues pertain to the region and are not related to countries outside of it. These are internal matters concerning the Iranian people, and no foreign party can interfere in our internal affairs, as we have made clear many times.”
Trump has been unclear on the key driving force behind his pressure campaign against Iran. Trump was clear last summer that he was concerned about the country’s nuclear program, but told reporters that Tehran’s capabilities were “obliterated.”
A few weeks ago, reports emerged that Israelis began voicing their concern about Tehran’s ballistic missile program, and told the White House that it may have to act to reduce the country’s capabilities. Last month, Trump came out strongly in favor of the protests taking place in Iran and assured protesters that “help is on the way.”
TREND FORECAST: The Iranians have said they will treat any attack as an all-out war and will not hold back in their response. The world saw at the end of last year’s 12-day war that Iranian missiles managed to get by Israeli air defenses and were hitting military targets in Israel; Tehran likely understands that the West and Israel’s hope of Tehran’s collapse will not end after these negotiations, even if war is averted. So, watch for any Iranian response to be decisive. And it should be noted that when Tehran bombed Israel in retaliation for its attack on Iran last June, they did launch major bomb attacks on cities, but rather Israeli military targets. This time it will be different. Should the U.S. and Israel attack Iran it will be Hell on Earth for the Israeli citizens… and for the people of Iran as well.
Bezalel Smotrich, the extremist Israeli finance minister, said it is “written” that Israel’s future is its expansion to Damascus and parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, according to a French documentary titled: “Israel: Extremists in Power.”
“It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he said in the documentary, according to The New Arab.
Smotrich is an Israeli settler who has argued that it is moral to starve Gazans. He admitted that Israel will not achieve its goals quickly, but rather “little by little.”
Iran is the major power standing in Netanyahu’s way, and he’s betting on Trump’s support no matter what he does, because of the president’s commitment to his pro-Zionist supporters.
