Netanyahu: Trump determined to exhaust all options on Iran; I am skeptical

US President Donald Trump is determined to exhaust all options of achieving a deal with Iran before using force, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells Jewish leaders at the opening of the 51st annual Conference of Presidents Leadership Mission to Israel.

Trump believes that Iran will not miss the opportunity to reach a deal after learning the lessons from the June 2025 war, Netanyahu says.

“I will not hide from you that I express my skepticism of any deal with Iran, because, frankly, Iran is reliable on one thing — that they lie and they cheat,” Netanyahu says.

Speaking after meeting with Trump in Washington last week, Netanyahu insists that any agreement must remove all enriched nuclear material from Iran, dismantle its enrichment infrastructure, curb its ballistic missile program, and “dismantle the axis of terror” that Tehran has built across the region.

Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan’s “trust but verify” adage regarding the Soviet Union, he advises Trump: “Distrust. Distrust, and always verify.”

Turning to Gaza, Netanyahu says Israel embarked on its campaign following the October 7, 2023, massacre with three goals: returning all hostages, dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities, and dismantling its rule in the territory.

Israel has significantly degraded Hamas’s infrastructure, including destroying extensive tunnels, he says, vowing that “Gaza will not pose a threat ever again.”

“It can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way,” he says. “We hope for the easy way, because we know the ravages of war. We know what it means to lose people. We don’t want the human cost, but that goal has to be achieved, one way or the other, and one way or the other, it will be achieved.”

Despite the effects of two years of war and international criticism, he portrays Israel’s economy as a “juggernaut” powered by innovation and technology. Citing foreign investment and strong markets, he says Israel is now among the world’s leading cyber powers and pledges to replicate that success in artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, in partnership with the United States.