The US and Israeli leaders have held a “tough” phone call, sources have told the outlet
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to persuade US President Donald Trump to order a new attack on Iran immediately after the midterm election on Tuesday, Axios has reported, citing sources in Washington and West Jerusalem.
In its article on Sunday, the outlet revealed the details of a phone call between the two leaders about a possible resumption of military action against Tehran, which took place a day earlier and was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
An Israeli source said that the call was “tough,” while an American one described it as “direct,” it said.
According to the sources, Trump told Netanyahu that, instead of bombing Iran right away, he wants to give negotiations between Washington and Tehran a chance first. The Israeli prime minister is concerned by this strategy, they said.
The call came at a sensitive time for Netanyahu, who is engaged in difficult coalition talks after his right-wing bloc failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the election in Israel last month.
US journalist Tucker Carlson claimed in a post on X on Monday that the US “may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran” under pressure from Netanyahu, who “calls Trump about it every day.” According to Carlson’s sources, the prime minister wants an American strike on a facility at Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran, where Israeli intelligence believes the Iranians have restarted their nuclear enrichment program.
Trump told journalists on Saturday that negotiations with Tehran were “going fine.” However, he added that Washington still needed to get rid of some Iranian nuclear sites, claiming “we can do that in 10 minutes. We have that planned. You can look at Pickaxe Mountain. We need to take care of that.”
The US president has repeatedly warned that he could strike Iran again if Tehran fails to meet his peace terms. He made the threats despite the Pentagon inspector-general warning in September that heavy expenditure of key weapons in the conflict in the Middle East “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.” Tehran’s missile and drone strikes have also inflicted up to $15 billion in damage to US bases in the region, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Last week, US Vice President J.D. Vance sent a letter to Iranian national security chief Mohsen Rezaei with an offer to restart talks, which had remained stalled for several months.
On Sunday, Iranian negotiators left Doha after exchanging messages with the Americans via Qatari mediators for three days. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that the discussions focused on a seven-step plan that Tehran had proposed in September, with the possibility of its accelerated implementation if the deal reached.
Tehran’s terms “are reasonable and logical: no final agreement can be initiated, nor can the Strait of Hormuz be reopened or secured, unless the US naval blockade is brought to an end, Iran’s demands are respected, and Iran’s legitimate requirements are addressed,” Baghaei insisted.
Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered the military to prepare for “an immediate and effective response, without geographical restriction” if the Islamic Republic is attacked again, according to a statement released by his office on Saturday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff during their meeting in St. Petersburg last month that Moscow remains ready to facilitate the settlement of the conflict between Washington and Tehran, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.
Putin stressed that “the possibilities for diplomacy are far from being exhausted, and that it’s both possible and necessary to reach an agreement with Tehran, which is our [Moscow’s] strategic partner,” Ushakov noted.
