Against the backdrop of the collapse of negotiations with Iran, US President Donald Trump is once again emphasizing his role as “Israel’s defender” today (Tuesday) and providing a glimpse into his relations with Jerusalem. Trump spoke to New York radio host Sid Rosenberg and made it clear that the campaign against Iran is a question of survival for Israel, with his remarks coming at a sensitive time when the Iranian nuclear issue is once again at the top of the global agenda.
Trump spoke with great confidence about the maximum pressure policy he is leading towards Iran, claiming that the economic blockade is the only way to stop funding for terrorism and nuclear weapons: “We don’t have to rush anything. We have a blockade that doesn’t allow them money. It’s very simple: We can’t give them nuclear weapons – because they will use them.”
Continuing his remarks, Trump moved on to talk about the shared destiny between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the legacy he left behind in the White House regarding regional security: “I get along great with Bibi. We’ve partners in the true sense, you wouldn’t have an Israel without the both of us, and you wouldn’t have it without me if I didn’t terminate the nuclear deal with Iran that was signed by Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? If I didn’t terminate the Iran nuclear deal, it would have been one of the worst deals ever made.”
Trump did not content himself with criticizing the past, but presented a terrifying scenario of what would have happened if it hadn’t been for the moves he led: “They had a path to nuclear weapons, and there was nothing you could have done to stop it. They would have had nuclear weapons four years ago, and they would have used them in Israel, and they would have used them in the Middle East and maybe beyond that. The relationship I have with Bibi is excellent!”
Trump’s statements come against the backdrop of repeated reports of Iran’s progress in enriching uranium to a military level, and growing concern in Israel that the powers will not do enough to stop the bomb. Trump is using this momentum to recall his withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in 2018, a move that changed the face of the Middle East and led to a series of harsh sanctions.
As mentioned, recent attempts to reach a new nuclear agreement reached a dramatic breaking point, after President Trump defined Tehran’s counter-proposal as “completely unacceptable.” The negotiations, which took place in the shadow of security tensions and attacks in recent months, collapsed due to Iran’s “maximalist” demands: Tehran demanded recognition of its full sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, heavy financial compensation for “war damages” from the recent attacks, and the immediate lifting of the economic blockade and all sanctions as a precondition for any discussion of the nuclear issue.
On the other hand, the US insisted on demanding “zero enrichment” and a complete dismantling of the nuclear infrastructure – a gap that currently seems unbridgeable. The explosion in the talks is already giving its signals in global energy markets and in the belligerent discourse between Washington and Tehran, with fears of military escalation returning to center stage.