Trump has confirmed that he warned Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu against striking Iran.

 

File photo of Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump meeting in the White House. Fox News/Getty.

Donald Trump has confirmed that he requested Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu to not strike Iran. Fox News. Trump said, "It's not a warning. I said I don't think it's appropriate." Trump has been attempting to reach a deal with Iran over it's nuclear program in an effort to avoid a war. However, there are reports that Israel is considering striking their nuclear facilities, which would obviously derail any talks and could lead to a major war. Israel denied reports of preparations for strikes as "fake news" though Trump's comments give reports credence. 

My Comment:

This is kind of crazy. Israel striking Iran would lead to a major regional war and no good would come for it. The United States would likely be dragged into the war even if they don't want too and it would be a very bad thing for just about everything involved. 

The question is why on earth would Israel want to do this now. They are not in a great position to start another war. They are still dealing with Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis are still launching attacks against them as well. Not to mention the obvious tensions in Syria. Piling a major conflict with Iran on top of that seems insane to me. 

It's even more crazy that Israel was planning on doing this as Trump was having, apparently successful, talks with Iran. Trump seems pretty confident that he will be able to cut a deal with Iran and if he does then there would be no reason for strikes in the first place. 

It really does seem that there is a gap between the United States and Israel at this point. Keep in mind that Trump made a separate peace with the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Now Netanyahu appears to have tried to derail the peace process with Iran. Things do not seem to be going well. 

The only thing I  can think of is that Netanyahu thinks that the deal Trump will make won't be strong enough against Iran. He might be worried about Iran getting nukes, though Iran has been "six months" from getting nukes for as long as I can remember. He might think it is worth it to anger Trump with these strikes, or at least he did before Trump warned him off. 

As for Trump, I think he knows that America does not want another war right now. Indeed, he ran as a peace candidate and peace seems to be a real goal for him personally. No good could come from a major war with Iran and that is what would happen if Israel strikes Iran. 

There are a few people on the right saying that Israel should just launch strikes regardless of what Trump does. Remember who these folks are as they are obviously putting Israel ahead of the United States.