Netanyahu reportedly pressed Trump to renew Iran fighting before Israeli and US elections

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged US President Donald Trump to renew the fighting against Iran before Israel’s October 27 election and the US midterm elections a week later, Israeli television reported Tuesday, as the American leader said he would make a decision on Iran “very soon.”

US officials told Channel 12 News they came away with the impression from last week’s talks that Netanyahu wanted to launch an attack before the elections, with the premier citing worrying steps by Iran in the nuclear arena.

While Trump has since said publicly that he will not resume attacks on Iran before the US midterms, the Israel Defense Forces and CENTCOM remain at a high state of readiness and are completing preparations in case Trump changes his mind, the TV report quoted unnamed sources as saying.

It also quoted an American source saying that Netanyahu “has discussed the issue” of a resumption of attacks “several times,” and that Trump told Netanyahu he can “go ahead and prepare,” but made no official commitment to approving an attack. The source said Trump could order an attack now, later or never.

Trump has reportedly shifted back and forth on the issue every few days.

Netanyahu has told Israeli security chiefs that Trump, not he, initiated the discussion about renewed fighting before the elections, the report said. A senior Israeli official said Trump initially appeared ready to give the move a green light but later backtracked on the idea.

The Prime Minister’s Office denied that Netanyahu was seeking to start a war with Iran before the elections, a move that critics say would be politically motivated.

“The prime minister maintains an ongoing dialogue with President Trump and senior US administration officials, and does not address the content of the conversations between them,” Netanyahu’s office said, while the White House did not comment.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has reportedly warned that renewed fighting before the Israeli elections could lead to their postponement.

Israeli security officials say there has been no change in the intelligence assessment of Iran that would justify an Israeli-American operation in the next two to three weeks, according to Channel 12.

However, Iran has reportedly conducted ballistic missile tests from several sites in recent days, apparently as part of an effort to rebuild its deteriorated missile program. The military assesses that this rebuilding remains slow and partial.

‘Haven’t even thought about’ making an endorsement

One of the US officials quoted by Channel 12 said the Trump administration was aware of Netanyahu’s domestic political concerns as the Knesset elections loom, saying he “believes his strength is tied up in being a wartime prime minister.”

Trump meanwhile was asked Tuesday why he has not yet endorsed a candidate in Israel’s upcoming election, claiming the issue was not a priority.

“We haven’t even thought about it. I may be doing something,” he told reporters.

Trump has remained coy when pressed recently about whether he will make an endorsement in the closely fought race.

The US president on Tuesday also hit out at Iran, describing it as a “failed country” with an economy in shambles.

“They have no economy. They have 300 percent inflation. They have no money. They’re not paying their troops. They’re not paying anybody,” he said.

“We’ll make a decision on Iran very soon,” he concluded, amid reports of discussions about a resumption of fighting before Israel’s October 27 election and the United States’ November 3 midterm elections.

Trump has made similar comments repeatedly in the past, without following through with renewed strikes.

A day earlier, Trump quipped that the US “might have gone too far” in its campaign to assassinate Iran’s leaders during the war, because now the US does not “know who the hell we’re dealing with.”

Trump made the apparently off-the-cuff remarks at a campaign rally in Ohio. He seemed to be speaking in a lighthearted manner and was smiling.

“They got no ships, they got no nothing, they got no leaders, even, that’s the problem,” Trump said. “We might have gone too far with the leaders because we don’t know who the hell we’re dealing with.”

Trump has made similar comments in the past.

“Nobody wants to be the president of Iran,” he said, appearing to mix up the Islamic Republic’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who is alive and in office, with the country’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s opening strikes on February 28. Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba, was injured in that strike and has not been seen in public since.

“They have roll calls: ‘Who would like to be the president?’ Nobody. ‘I don’t want it’,” he said, mimicking such a scenario.