WaPo: Netanyahu wants to ‘seize the moment’ to tackle Iran; he and Trump discussed possible US support for Israeli military action

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have discussed a variety of ways in which the US can support Israel in its bid to tackle Iran’s nuclear program, according to the Washington Post.

Citing Israeli and US officials, senior Washington Post columnist David Ignatius asserts that unless diplomatic pressure is successful in forcing Iran to abandon its nuclear facilities, Israel is prepared to destroy them “with or without US support.”

“Israel wants to seize the moment,” Ignatius writes, citing American and Israeli officials: “If Iran won’t agree to a Libya-style abandonment of its nuclear facilities, Israel is prepared to bomb those facilities — with or without US support, the officials said.”

Accordingly, he reports, there are a number of options on the table for the US to support Israel, from diplomatic pressure in the form of a “coercive ultimatum” to “active military support.”

The two leaders met in Washington last week. Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu had said that Iran would be among key topics that the two would discuss.

The Post says the two discussed “several possible levels of American backing, ranging from active military support for a kinetic strike — such as intelligence, refueling or other assistance — to more limited political backing for a coercive ultimatum.” It notes that the US “has already provided Israel with bunker-busting munitions that could severely damage Iranian centrifuges and other uranium-enrichment equipment buried in a mountain fortress in Fordow, near Qom.”

The Washington Post said Wednesday that the US intelligence community recently presented assessments that Israel is considering strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, and that the attacks could come this year.

Trump has said he wants to negotiate a solution but has also reimposed his maximum pressure strategy of strict sanctions on Iran.

“I think we’re gonna make a deal in Iran,” he told Fox News on Monday. “I think they’re scared. I think Iran would love to make a deal and I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them.

“Everyone thinks Israel, with our help or our approval, will go in and bomb the hell out of ’em. I would prefer that not happen,” he told the cable network.