JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday he planned to discuss soon with US President Donald Trump how to “counter the threat” from Iran.
“I plan to speak soon with President Trump about how to counter the threat of Iranian regime which calls for Israel’s destruction,” Netanyahu said in a video message posted on his Facebook page.
Before his inauguration on Friday, Trump had repeatedly denounced the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, including the United States, which Israel has also staunchly criticised.
On January 16, Trump said in an interview with the Times of London and Bild newspaper of Germany: “I’m not happy with the Iran deal, I think it’s one of the worst deals ever made. I think it’s one of the dumbest deals I’ve ever seen, one of the dumbest.”
But he declined to say whether he intended to “renegotiate” the deal, as he asserted regularly during the presidential campaign.
Netanyahu has been an ardent opponent of the 2015 pact signed by Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.
The deal placed curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
