{"id":293149,"date":"2026-02-15T21:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/293149\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T21:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:59:08","slug":"trump-told-netanyahu-hed-back-israeli-strikes-on-iran-if-talks-fail-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/293149\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump told Netanyahu he’d back Israeli strikes on Iran if talks fail – report"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Netanyahu in December that he would support Israeli strikes on Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program if the US and Iran could not reach a deal, CBS News reported<\/a> on Sunday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

The US outlet reported that discussions about such an attack, roughly eight months after the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, are ongoing. During last year\u2019s war, the US joined the Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. This time, the American role in an Israeli attack would involve helping jets refuel in midair or aiding Israel in receiving permission to fly over neighboring countries, CBS reported.<\/p>\n

Several countries have said they would not let their airspace be used for an attack on Iran.<\/p>\n

The report came as Iran\u2019s foreign minister departed for Geneva on Sunday ahead of a second round of talks with the United States over Tehran\u2019s nuclear program, and as Netanyahu voiced skepticism that the negotiations would succeed.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also acknowledged that the talks could fail, while emphasizing that Trump remains committed to seeing them through. Iran, meanwhile, signaled flexibility on its nuclear program and urged Washington to pursue a deal with mutual economic benefits.<\/p>\n

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The talks, which began earlier this month in Oman, came after Trump threatened to strike<\/a> Iran over its crackdown on mass anti-regime protests in January, which rights groups say killed thousands. Tehran has threatened to respond to any American attack with strikes on Israel and US targets in the region.<\/p>\n

Since making the threats, Trump has pursued the negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear program, saying after his White House meeting with Netanyahu last week<\/a> that he \u201cinsisted\u201d diplomacy be given a chance.<\/p>\n

At the same time, however, he has built up US military force in the Middle East and warned Tehran of dire consequences if the talks fail. He said last week<\/a>, regarding regime change in Iran, that it \u201cseems like that would be the best thing that could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tIsraeli Air Force F-16 fighter jets prepare to take off for strikes in Iran, in a handout photo published on June 27, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has consistently accused Iran of duplicity, a claim he repeated in a speech on Sunday. Speaking in Jerusalem, he told US Jewish leaders that Trump was \u201cdetermined to exhaust the possibilities of achieving a deal that he believes can be achieved now\u201d with Iran, before resorting to force.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not hide from you that I express my skepticism of any deal with Iran,\u201d he told a delegation<\/a> from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, \u201cbecause, frankly, Iran is reliable on one thing \u2014 that they lie and they cheat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu laid out four Israeli demands regarding any deal with Iran, including the removal of the country\u2019s entire stock of enriched uranium and the dismantling of its nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first is that all enriched material has to leave Iran,\u201d he said. \u201cThe second is that there should be no enrichment capability\u2026 dismantle the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also demanded that the talks limit Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program and address its support for proxy terror groups \u2014 issues that Iran has said should not be part of the current negotiations.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, heads to the venue for talks between Iran and the US, in Muscat, Oman, February 6, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP, File)<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Rubio, also speaking on Sunday, said Trump would prefer a negotiated settlement but likewise expressed skepticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran, but we\u2019re going to try,\u201d he said at a news conference in Bratislava.<\/p>\n

An unnamed source told Reuters last week that a US delegation, including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, would meet Iranian officials in Geneva on Tuesday, a meeting confirmed to Reuters by a senior Iranian official on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be traveling, I think they are traveling right now, to have important meetings, and we\u2019ll see how that turns out,\u201d Rubio said, without providing further details.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tMarco Rubio boards the airplane as he departs the Bratislava Airport in Bratislava, Slovakia, February 15, 2026. (AP\/Alex Brandon, Pool)<\/p>\n

During his visit to Geneva, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to hold talks with his Swiss and Omani counterparts as well as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, and other international officials, the Iranian foreign ministry statement said.<\/p>\n

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the fate of Iran\u2019s stockpile of more than 400 kilograms of 60-percent enriched uranium that was last seen by nuclear watchdog inspectors in June.<\/p>\n

Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signaled<\/a> Iran\u2019s readiness<\/a> to compromise on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC earlier on Sunday that the ball was \u201cin America\u2019s court to prove that they want to do a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senior official referred to the Iranian atomic chief\u2019s statement the week prior that the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions as an example of Iran\u2019s flexibility.<\/p>\n

However, he reiterated that Tehran would not accept zero uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in past negotiations, with Washington viewing enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the Conference of Presidents Leadership Mission to Israel in Jerusalem, February 15, 2026 (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Another Iranian official touted potential energy, mining, and aircraft deals that are on the table in the talks with the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the sake of an agreement\u2019s durability, it is essential that the US also benefits in areas with high and quick economic returns,\u201d foreign ministry deputy director for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. \u201cCommon interests in the oil and gas fields, joint fields, mining investments, and even aircraft purchases are included in the negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The talks are the second attempt at negotiations between Iran and the US since Trump returned to office early last year. Previous talks between the two countries fell apart shortly before the Israel-Iran war in June 2025.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Barack Obama-era Iran deal, which reduced sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program. Washington claimed Iranian non-compliance at the time of the withdrawal and began reimposing tough economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

While talks leading to the 2015 nuclear pact were multilateral, the current negotiations are confined to Iran and the United States, with Muscat acting as mediator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Netanyahu in December that he would support Israeli strikes on Iran\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-293149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}