The Israeli prime minister has reportedly been pressing Washington to resume strikes on Tehran despite Trump\u2019s reluctance to escalate the conflict<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a heated phone call with US President Donald Trump over the possibility of renewed military strikes against Iran, Ynet reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the conversation.
\nSeveral media outlets, including Axios, the Associated Press and the Financial Times, previously reported that Netanyahu had been urging Trump to resume military operations against Iran shortly after the US midterm elections. Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate in the November 3 vote, widely seen as a rebuke to Trump\u2019s policies, including the unpopular war with Iran, which has driven up energy prices.
\nYnet described the weekend conversation as unusually tense, with one source calling it a \u201cshouting match from hell.\u201d Netanyahu\u2019s office dismissed the report as \u201cfake news, absolute nonsense,\u201d while a senior Israeli official confirmed that the call took place but denied that it had been confrontational.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
After the midterm bloodbath, what is Trump ready to concede?<\/p>\n
Trump said on Sunday that he saw no reason to escalate the conflict with Iran, amid opposition to renewed strikes from Washington\u2019s Arab allies in the region. He and Vice President J.D. Vance have acknowledged that the Iran war contributed to the Republicans\u2019 election defeat.
\nNevertheless, Trump stood by his decision to launch the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran on February 28. \u201cI did the right thing. I would have done it again,\u201d he told the Wall Street Journal after the vote.
\nNetanyahu\u2019s political future is also uncertain after his coalition failed to secure a parliamentary majority in Israel\u2019s October 27 elections.
\nOn Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog tasked Netanyahu\u2019s main rival, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, with forming a new government after parties representing 67 members of the 120-seat Knesset recommended him for the premiership, compared with 46 who backed Netanyahu. Eisenkot has 28 days to assemble a governing coalition, with a possible two-week extension.\u00a0
\nThe war has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies that normally carries around a fifth of the world\u2019s seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas trade. Trump has vowed to maintain the naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran has been attacking tankers using US-designated shipping routes, which Tehran considers illegal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Israeli prime minister has reportedly been pressing Washington to resume strikes on Tehran despite Trump\u2019s reluctance to escalate the conflict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a heated phone…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t