Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (local time) spoke to US President Donald Trump, who told him that "there is a chance" to leverage battlefield gains into an agreement that realizes the war's objectives. Netanyahu's comments came after Trump announced that he was holding talks with Tehran about ending the war.
"Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu tweets, "Earlier today, I spoke with our friend President Trump. President Trump believes there is an opportunity to leverage the tremendous achievements we have attained with the US military to realize the war objectives in the agreement—an agreement that will safeguard our vital interests," Netanyahu said.
Israeli attacks on Iran to continue
The Israeli PM further pledged to keep attacking Iran and Lebanon as the US considers a ceasefire. "At the same time, we continue to strike both in Iran and in Lebanon. We are crushing the missile program and the nuclear program, and continuing to inflict severe blows on Hezbollah. Just days ago, we eliminated two more nuclear scientists—and the hand is still outstretched. We will safeguard our vital interests in any scenario," he added.
Trump says US holds talks with Iran
Earlier, Trump said the US has held talks with Iran and that the two sides had "major points of agreement" after he ordered the US military to postpone strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
Trump has directed the American military to postpone targeting Tehran's power plants and energy infrastructure for next five days following the recent talks with Iranian side in the past two days. The 79-year-old called the talks with Iran "very good" and "productive", saying they focused on a "complete and total" resolution on the hostilities in the Middle East.
However, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who was reportedly leading negotiations on behalf of Tehran, firmly rejected Trump's claim that the United States and Iran were engaged in "productive talks" to end the Middle East conflict and accused the US of manipulating markets to lower soaring oil prices.
Ghalibaf said on Monday that fake news is being spread to manipulate oil and financial market. He said this was being done to "escape the quagmire" in which the United States and Israel are trapped now.
"No negotiations have been held with the US, and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped," he said.
Also Read: Trump claims Iran sought deal fearing US attacks on its energy infra: 'One shot and it's gone'
Also Read: End of war in Middle East? Trump hints thaw after talks with Iran, pauses strikes on power plants
