President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would provide input on when to end the joint U.S.-Israel military attacks against Iran that began last month.
When asked whether Netanyahu would have a say on the matter, Trump replied, “I think it’s mutual … a little bit.”
“We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” Trump told the Times of Israel, indicating that while Netanyahu will have input, Washington would make the final decision.
Israel coordinated the war against Iran with the United States after Tehran backed terrorism for decades in the Middle East, including against Israel. Hamas terrorists operating in Gaza, who launched the Oct. 7 attack against Israel that killed around 1,200 civilians, are among the organizations funded by Iran.
Washington expects the war, which started on Feb. 28, to last four to six weeks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday.
Seven U.S. service members have been killed since the war began, according to the Pentagon. An eighth member died from health complications. Eleven people in Israel have been killed during Iran’s retaliatory strikes against the country, according to Israeli authorities. When pressed over the weekend on whether Israel could continue the war against Iran even after the U.S. decides to halt its strikes, Trump declined to entertain the theoretical possibility, saying, “I don’t think it’s going to be necessary.”
“Operation Epic Fury” has killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, decimated much of the country’s navy fleet, and eliminated large swaths of its senior military leadership. The U.S. and Israel made the decision to strike Tehran after being told by Iranian leadership that it had enough enriched uranium to make 11 nuclear bombs, according to Trump’s team.
The U.S. conducted talks with Iran centered on concerns about the country’s nuclear programs for months before carrying out the strikes. At one point, Iranian negotiators told their U.S. counterparts that the country controlled roughly 460 kilograms of uranium at 60% enrichment, according to special envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff said last week that the uranium could have been enriched to the weapons-grade level of 90% within a week to 10 days.
EUROPE FAVORS TEPID RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S IRAN WAR. DOES IT MATTER?
“They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs,” he said during a Fox News interview.
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader on Sunday. The 56-year-old is Ali Khamenei’s son.
