Israel “hit back” after Iran targeted it with missiles, U.S. President Donald Trump emphasized early on Tuesday, saying that he “can’t blame” Jerusalem for retaliating against the Islamic Republic.
Trump told reporters after attending the NBA Finals in New York City that he had a “very good conversation” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the latest flare-up in hostilities.
“He hit back and I can’t blame him for that,” said the president. “Now they’ve called it quits, so they’re going to just leave each other alone for another week or something.”
Tehran and Jerusalem “both agreed, through me, to stop,” continued Trump, adding that he told Netanyahu to “do what’s right” but to “stop as quickly as you can.”
“We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” he claimed, saying the agreement being negotiated “will not allow in any way, shape or form nuclear weapons, et cetera, and that the Strait [of Hormuz] will open up right away.”
The deal could be signed within two or three days, Trump declared.
“We should be doing it in one hour—I don’t think there are any sticking points,” he stated. “We will have a signed document that is stronger than doing the bombing.”
“If we go and bomb, which we could do very easily if we want, and we spend another few weeks bombing, they will have nothing left whatsoever,” the American leader said, warning that “a lot of people will be killed.”
According to Trump, his ongoing naval blockade on Iranian ports “has turned out to be much stronger than bombing.”
“You know, their economy is really suffering, and they are going to make a deal,” he concluded.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance told told Fox News‘ “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday that a deal preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon would be a “home-run win for the American people.”
Vance spoke after the Islamic Republic and its regional terrorist proxies fired multiple missile barrages at Israel from Sunday night into Monday, breaking a fragile ceasefire that had been in place since April 8.
Asked about Trump’s discussions with Netanyahu, Vance told Watters that Washington and Jerusalem “have a lot of shared interests, but we also have some situations where our interests diverge.”
“I think where the president has been very clear here is that while Israel obviously has some objectives that it has, the United States’ main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon,” the vice president added.
Vance told Fox News that the negotiations were showing signs of progress, saying Tehran was putting “real things” on the table.
“The Iranians don’t want this war to continue,” the vice president claimed. “It’s not in their best interest.”
Trump earlier on Monday had called on Israel and Iran to “immediately stop shooting,” claiming that both sides were “looking to do an immediate ceasefire” and put an end to the fighting.
“Final negotiations on ‘peace’ are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way,” the president claimed in a Truth Social post. “Things should move quickly.”
In a televised address on Monday evening, Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces had refrained from further strikes after Iran held fire, but warned that the Jewish state would respond with “overwhelming force” if the regime resumed its assaults.
Tehran announced the “cessation of armed forces operations” but threatened to carry out “far more severe and crushing” missile attacks if the Jewish state continued military operations against Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy.
