Trump: Israel will ‘do what I tell them’ regarding end of Iran war, will ‘stop when I stop’
US President Donald Trump says Israel will follow his orders and halt fire if he decides to end the war against Iran.
“They’ll do what I tell them,” Trump tells Time Magazine. “They’ve been a good team player. They’ll stop when I stop. They’ll stop unless they’re provoked, in which case, they’ll have no choice, but they’ll stop when I stop.”
The remark contradicts Trump’s assertion last month in an interview with The Times of Israel that ending the war would be a “mutual” decision with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Time Magazine story — a lengthy account of how Trump decided to launch the war with Israel and of his attempts to now seek an off-ramp given the unpopularity of the war in the US — also cites an unnamed Israeli official as saying Netanyahu has little room to maneuver without Trump’s backing.
The story, which cites multiple American and Israeli sources, recounts how Trump, furious at some administration officials for leaking information about the planned attack on Iran, convened a February 27 meeting in which he indicated that the operation was off. He then called back a small number of trusted officials and planned the opening strikes of the war that would begin that very night.
The report also recounts Netanyahu’s repeated lobbying for Trump to join a prolonged attack on the Islamic Republic. Citing an unnamed source who was in the room as Netanyahu met Trump for an hours-long meeting in Washington, it says the premier told the US president, “We’ve come this far, Donald. We have to finish what we started,” arguing Tehran was playing for time and would secretly race toward a nuclear bomb.
Trump also tells Time that Iran has proven “very tough” by resisting immense pressure to make concessions to end the war with an agreement.
“They’re able to withstand tremendous pain. So I respect them for that. The fact is, I think they’re better negotiators than they are fighters,” he says.