After giving diplomacy “one shot” to permanently end his war on Iran, US President Donald Trump sounded remarkably certain about who controls the next step in the Middle East. Standing before reporters on Wednesday, he declared that Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu would do “whatever I want him to do” on Iran.
Asked what he had recently told Netanyahu regarding a possible military strike on Iran, Trump replied without hesitation.
“He’ll do whatever I want him to do. He’s a very good man. He’ll do whatever I want him to do. And he’s a great guy. Don’t forget he was a wartime prime minister,” Trump said.
The US President defended Netanyahu against criticism over corruption charges in Israel. On may ocassions, Trump had appealed for presidential pardon for the Israeli Prime Minister.
“He’s not treated right in Israel, in my opinion,” Trump said.
The US President even joked about entering Israeli politics himself. “So maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel, run for prime minister,” Trump quipped.
“I had a poll this morning. I’m right now at 99 per cent in Israel,” he added.
Amid boiling tensions in the Middle East, Trump insisted he was not rushing toward either war or diplomacy.
The US President again claimed the conflict with Iran would end “very quickly”, despite growing uncertainty over negotiations and fears of renewed military escalation. During the same exchange with reporters, Trump defended the pace of diplomacy after being asked whether talks with Tehran were taking longer than expected.
“Let’s put it this way, you were in Vietnam 19 years. You were in Afghanistan and these other places 10 years,” he said.
“I’m in for three months, and much of it has been a ceasefire. We’re gonna give this one shot. I’m in no hurry,” Trump said.
“Ideally, I’d like to see a few people killed, as opposed to a lot.”
The US President also repeated that he had recently halted a planned military strike on Iran only “one hour away” from execution after Gulf allies urged Washington to give diplomacy another opportunity.
Source: India Today
