Israel wants to resume the war, while Washington and regional mediators push Tehran to accept a peace deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was furious after a tense call with US President Donald Trump over a new proposal to end the war with Iran, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
One US source briefed on the conversation said Netanyahu’s “hair was on fire” after the call, which took place after Trump delayed a planned “very major attack” on Iran, saying Gulf leaders had asked Washington to give diplomacy more time.
The US president has since said that the US and Iran were “right on the borderline” between a deal and renewed war.
“Either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the war could resume “very quickly” unless Washington receives “100% good answers.”
Netanyahu is “highly skeptical” of the negotiations and wants to resume the war in order to further degrade Iran’s military capabilities and weaken the country by destroying critical infrastructure, Axios reported.
Trump, however, claimed that Netanyahu “will do whatever I want him to do” on Iran, while insisting he has a good relationship with the Israeli leader.
The latest diplomatic push reportedly centers on a “letter of intent” that would be signed by the US and Iran to formally end the war and launch a 30-day negotiation period over Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran has confirmed that it is reviewing an updated proposal. However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry insisted negotiations were continuing on the basis of the 14-point plan previously dismissed by Washington.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said this week that “dialogue does not mean surrender,” adding that Tehran would not retreat from “the legal rights of the people and the country.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said talks could succeed only if the US ends its “piracy” against Iranian ships and agrees to release frozen funds, while Israel must end its war in Lebanon.
