Israel: War with Iran ‘now rather than later’
Israel would rather face a military confrontation with Iran ‘‘now than later’’, Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday, as both supporters and opponents of the Iran nuclear agreement made last-ditch appeals to Donald Trump ahead of his decision on the deal next week.
With the clock ticking ahead of Saturday’s deadline for Trump to announce if he is pulling the US out of the Iran deal, Israel said it was prepared for a war to stop Iranian forces embedding in neighbouring Syria.
Boris Johnson, the British Foreign Secretary, flew into Washington yesterday for 11th hour talks with senior members of the Trump administration to try to convince them to stick with the deal.
Sir Kim Darroch, British ambassador to the US, yesterday said the president had not yet made a final decision, but that the UK was looking at options to continue with the deal even if the US pulls out.
Johnson will spend two days lobbying senior figures including Mike Pence, the vice-president, and John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser.
In Israel, Netanyahu said: ‘‘We are determined to block Iran’s aggression against us even if this means a struggle. Better now than later.
‘‘Nations that were unprepared to take timely action to counter murderous aggression against them paid much heavier prices afterwards.
‘‘We do not want escalation, but we are prepared for any scenario.’’
Israel has struck Iranian forces in Syria several times in recent weeks and tensions between the two sides are especially high after Netanyahu announced that Israeli spies had stolen thousands of files on Iran’s nuclear programme.
As Netanyahu urged Trump to scrap the ‘‘fatally flawed’’ nuclear agreement, Iran issued its own warning against the US leaving the deal.
‘‘If the US leaves the nuclear agreement, you will soon see that they will regret it like never before in history,’’ said Hassan Rowhani, Iran’s president. ‘‘Trump must know that our people are united, the Zionist regime (Israel) must know that our people are united.’’
Iran has said that if the US reimposes sanctions it may resume enriching uranium, potentially putting it back on a path towards conflict with the US, Israel and its Arab rivals like Saudi Arabia. Israeli officials said yesterday that they still did not know what Trump would decide about the nuclear agreement but they were ready for the potential fallout if he did withdraw.
In a briefing in Jerusalem, Israeli officials said they believed even if the US was alone in reimposing sanctions – while Russia, China and European countries stayed in the deal – it would still put Tehran under major economic pressure.