Trump threatens Iranian attack boats in Hormuz as Netanyahu backs blockade
PM Netanyahu said on Monday that the key issue in U.S.-Iran talks is the removal of enriched uranium from Iran, adding that VP Vance promised Tehran would not have the ability to enrich uranium for the coming decades.
Netanyahu also said that Israel supports the U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz announced by Trump, adding that Israel and the U.S. are fully coordinating.
After the blockade began on Monday,
Trump warned that any Iranian "fast-attack" vessels approaching the strait would be "immediately eliminated." Trump is also considering "limited military strikes," the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing officials and people familiar with the matter. Trump reportedly hopes such strikes will produce a breakthrough in cease-fire talks after the first round ended in a stalemate. Speaking at the White House later Monday, the president also said Iran wants to make a deal but that he will not agree to any arrangement that allows Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.
Iran's Armed Forces
responded to U.S. blockade threats by vowing to implement a "permanent mechanism" to control the strait, signaling a long-term effort to assert authority over the strategic chokepoint. Iran's Defense Ministry also said Trump "will fail" in any attempt at military intervention in Hormuz. At the same time, Iranian FM Aragchi said in an X post that negotiators were "inches away" from a memorandum of understanding with the U.S., but that the Americans presented "maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade."
Most I
sraelis, meanwhile, oppose the current cease-fire with Iran and expect renewed fighting within the coming year, according to a survey by the Institute for National Security Studies. The vast majority – 76 percent – said that negotiations with the Islamic Republic will not achieve the war's objectives of dismantling Iran's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs, alongside regime change.
The results of the war are mixed at best, and Israel isn't close to achieving the goals Netanyahu announced when it began on February 28. But talking points are being distributed energetically, and the foreign press is getting briefings from Jerusalem asserting that the war is likely to resume at any moment, writes Amos Harel.
Source: Haaretz