Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that US President Donald Trump believes he is creating the conditions for a “good deal” with Iran, although the Israeli leader remained skeptical about the quality of any such deal.
Netanyahu said Trump thinks he is creating the conditions for a ‘good deal’ with IranNetanyahu traveled to Washington for his seventh meeting with Trump since the US president returned to power and tried to push for a tougher line in nuclear talks with Iran.
“The president believes that the Iranians have already learned who they are dealing with,” Netanyahu said in Washington before flying to Israel, according to a video statement from his office.
“He believes that the conditions he is creating, combined with the fact that they surely realize that they made a mistake last time when they did not reach an agreement, can create the conditions to achieve a good deal,” he added.
“I will not hide from you that I have expressed general doubts about the value of any deal with Iran.”
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Any deal “must include very important elements from our point of view”, Netanyahu continued, listing Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for militant groups such as the Palestinian movement Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
“It’s not just a nuclear issue,” he said.
On Wednesday, Trump told Netanyahu at the White House that talks with Iran must continue, rejecting the Israeli leader’s push for a tougher stance.
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Trump said his preference was to reach a deal, but added: “If it can’t be done, we’ll just have to see what the outcome will be.”
The US president has repeatedly hinted at possible US military action against Iran following a deadly crackdown on protests last month, even as Washington and Tehran resumed talks with a meeting in Oman last week.
The last round of talks between the two foes was cut short by Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June, which the US briefly joined with an attack on a nuclear facility.
So far, Iran has rejected expanding the new talks beyond the issue of its nuclear program, although Washington also wants Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional militant groups on the table.
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