Central to the rushed and unanticipated summit in the White House between President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the issue of Iran.  Although the possibility of a decision to launch military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities was contemplated, it ended with Trump announcing that the U.S. is engaged in direct negotiations with the Iranian regime.

Issues such as tariffs, the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for a year and a half, and the tension between Israel and Turkey in Syria were discussed and deliberated upon.  Iran was clearly uppermost in the minds of Netanyahu and Trump.

The Israeli hostages being held in Gaza make for an issue of utmost importance.  However, this is a matter being handled by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, and does not merit an urgent White House meeting, especially when Israel is grappling with various domestic and security matters, including the resumption of the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, the domestic Qatar-gate “scandal,” and anti-government demonstrations orchestrated by Israel’s leftist opposition seeking to bring down Netanyahu and his government.

The only matter that is of supreme importance to Netanyahu, and apparently to Donald Trump as well, is dealing with the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Last week, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected direct negotiations with the U.S., and news out of Tehran was that the Iranians are speeding up their efforts to build a nuclear bomb.  That qualified for summoning Netanyahu to Washington.

In the meantime, Khamenei has placed Iran’s armed forces on high alert in response to President Trump’s recent threat that “if they don't make a deal, there will be bombing.”  Trump said in a telephone interview, “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”  An Iranian newspaper close to the Iranian regime and to Khamenei himself reportedly called for the assassination of Trump.

The hardline Kayhan newspaper published this chilling statement: “He [Trump]’s way out of line!  Any day now, in revenge for the blood of Martyr Soleimani, a few bullets are going to be fired into that empty skull of his and he’ll be drinking from the chalice of a cursed death.”  

There has already been a credible attempt by the Iranian regime to assassinate Trump.  According to a November 8, 2024 report by Politico: “The Iranian government ordered an operative to assassinate Donald Trump before the 2024 election.  Manhattan federal prosecutors said that they charged Farhad Shakeri with murder-for-hire and for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He is believed to be in Iran and remains at large, prosecutors said.”  President Trump, therefore, must be more determined than ever to deal once and for all with the Iranian menace to him personally, and to the world at large.

Although he vowed to be “a peacemaker,” Trump understands, in no uncertain terms, that there are evil forces that cannot be dealt with peacefully.  The Islamic Republic of Iran is just such an evil force.  For its part, the Iranian regime believes that Trump is simply bluffing and that his threats are meant to force the Iranians to the negotiating table.  The Iranian regime, which got its way with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, now sees a decisive change and regards Trump as a dangerous enigma.

Trump decisively dealt with Iran’s arch-terrorist Soleimani and walked away from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which he deemed a very bad deal.  He then imposed maximum economic pressure on the Islamic Republic.  The ayatollahs’ regime views Trump as their greatest obstacle and have sought to kill him.  Trump has put clear orders in place — if the Iranians should succeed in assassinating him, Iran will be “obliterated.”

As of now, it seems that the Tehran regime has caved in and agreed to direct negotiations.  Trump has made clear that he prefers a diplomatic solution and a revised and tough nuclear agreement that would ensure that Iran won’t be able to produce a nuclear weapon.  However, he has also made clear that talks alone does not mean that the military option has been discarded.

Adding credibility to U.S. threats was the announcement by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who noted that the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group would be joined in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility by the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group on the orders of Defense secretary Pete Hegseth.  “To complement the CENTCOM maritime posture, the Secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities,” he said.  Of note, some of the undetectable B-2 stealth bombers equipped with bunker-busting bombs have been flown to the Diego Garcia Island naval base in the Indian Ocean.

As he departed from the White House, Bibi Netanyahu must have felt disappointed.  He expected that his friend Donald Trump would realize what must be clear to all: that the Iranian regime will not give up its nuclear option, since it guarantees the regime’s survival.  Netanyahu figured that the assemblage of a huge U.S. force would mean military action.

But even if the Iranians agreed to dismantle their nuclear facilities, they would wait another four years until Trump is out of office, and then, with their know-how, they would resume their quest for a bomb.  Another U.S. president might just be more amenable to the Iranians.

Still, Netanyahu tried his best to look at the positive side of things.  He reasoned that if Trump would give the Iranians a short deadline for the negotiations — say, two weeks — that would possibly prevent the ayatollahs from buying time to expedite the completion of the nuclear process to acquire a bomb.  And, if the Iranian leadership fails to agree to a new deal, the military option would be ready.

The only guarantee that the Islamic Republic will not be an existential threat to Israel, and a danger to the region and the world, is if the oppressive ayatollahs’ regime is replaced with a secular and democratic government — one that the Iranian people yearn for.

Image: Chickenonline via Pixabay, Pixabay License.