US President Donald Trump has revealed the content of his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the past day. Modern.az reports that Trump said in an interview with Israel's Channel 12:
"I told Bibi that he should be extremely careful," Trump said, adding: "Israeli planes had already set off for Iran, but I managed to reduce the scale of that attack."
The US leader stated that during intense talks over the past 24 hours, he directly warned Netanyahu about the catastrophic consequences of the conflict escalating into a full-scale war.
"I told Bibi: be very careful in your actions, because soon you might be left alone with Iran," Trump said.
According to Trump, in the first phone call on Sunday evening, he insistently asked the Israeli prime minister to refrain from a military response to Iran's attack. However, that conversation did not yield concrete results, and Netanyahu did not disclose his plans. Sources familiar with the content of the talks believed that Trump managed to gain at least a few days.
However, events developed rapidly. Immediately after the phone call, Netanyahu held an urgent meeting with the heads of Israeli defense institutions, and then contacted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to officially inform him of the decision to strike Iran.
"They (the Israelis) informed us at a very late stage," Trump described the situation. "Their forces were already in motion towards Iran. Nevertheless, I managed to reduce the scale of this strike."
Trump emphasized that the leaders of five Middle Eastern countries involved in mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran asked him to exert maximum pressure on Netanyahu. The main goal of the regional players is to stop mutual strikes and move towards signing a comprehensive agreement.
"This morning, the Iranians contacted us and said that they would no longer strike Israel. They asked us to convey to Israel to stop the attacks. I immediately called Bibi and forced him to stop," Trump announced.
At the end of the interview, the US president emphasized that he still believes the window of opportunity for a major deal with Tehran is open. In his opinion, Iran is extremely interested in signing this agreement, and Trump is confident that it will be "a good and strong agreement."
