‘Now let’s finish the job’: Trump and Netanyahu join forces for a new offensive against Iran
Gulf states warned of an imminent attack following the mid-term elections. The US President on Likud’s resilience: ‘My support led to an unexpected comeback’
by Luca Veronese from New York
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“Now we can finish the job together.” Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are ready to attack Iran – once again, and with greater force – after the election in Israel has strengthened their friendship.
The United States and Israel will act in unison: Trump, however, has chosen to wait until the mid-term elections on 3 November, resisting pressure from Netanyahu, who would have liked to take action as early as the beginning of October. Everything is ready; it will take just a few hours to launch ‘another little Epic Fury’, as Trump himself confirmed at an election rally last week.
On 28 February, eight months ago now, the two leaders had also agreed to launch military action against the regime in Tehran. On that occasion, Trump had ignored his advisers and the generals at the Pentagon who had warned him of the risks associated with the conflict. Instead, he had been persuaded by his Israeli friend, who had promised him a swift solution – ‘a matter of a few weeks’ – to ‘wipe out’ Iran’s nuclear programme and the ayatollahs. Sources close to the White House subsequently revealed a telephone call in which Netanyahu had insisted on the possibility of ‘striking immediately at the Iranian leaders gathered in Tehran’.
Since then, the relationship between the US President and the Israeli Prime Minister has seen periods of extreme tension, interspersed with dramatic declarations of friendship. Trump himself has spoken of at least two heated telephone conversations: ‘What are you up to? You’re completely mad,’ he is reported to have said to Netanyahu, accusing him of sabotaging the Middle East peace talks and of being too quick to use military force against civilians, particularly in Gaza.
However, the clash never went so far as to call into question US political and military support for Israel. In recent months, under Trump’s watch, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to strike the Gaza Strip to hunt down Hamas terrorists, in an operation of total devastation that killed at least 74,000 Palestinians. And Washington – preoccupied with elusive peace initiatives – has effectively given Netanyahu free rein in Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank as well.
