Ahead of his upcoming meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, Benjamin Netanyahu insisted in a Fox News interview that he and the U.S. President share the same objectives, at least when it comes to Iran. Analysts, however, note a degree of distance between the two leaders — a gap that Netanyahu’s remarks appear designed to bridge. Notably, the Israeli Prime Minister felt compelled to state that he respects the ongoing diplomatic talks, even as all signs suggest Israel remains deeply opposed to this approach.
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Netanyahu: “When I have something to say, I say it”
When asked about the tensions surrounding the U.S.-Iran negotiations and the related memorandum of understanding, Netanyahu stated that he and the American President “share the same goal.” “We want to see Iran abandon its nuclear weapons program. We want the enriched nuclear material removed. We want the uranium enrichment facilities dismantled. We have other shared goals as well,” he said.
The Israeli Prime Minister noted that Trump believes that, following the strikes which — as he put it — Israel and the United States jointly inflicted on Iran, there is now room to apply pressure through diplomacy in order to achieve these specific objectives. “We respect that, and I hope it works,” Netanyahu said, adding: “But I can tell you this: with or without a deal, as long as I am Prime Minister, Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons.”
Netanyahu declined to comment on the progress of the Washington-Tehran talks, or on criticism from his own supporters that a deal could leave the Iranian regime in place and allow it to recover. As he noted, the negotiations “are not yet concluded,” and he will evaluate them once a final outcome is reached.
“Believe me, when I have things I want to point out, I speak my mind freely. And when he has something to say to me, he does the same. That’s what friends and allies do,” he said of his relationship with Trump. “The most important thing is that we share a common goal: Iran must not have nuclear weapons or the ability to build them,” the Israeli Prime Minister emphasized, adding that the world is “very lucky” that Trump is “leading the free world in this joint effort.”
