Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Donald Trump at a White House Press conference on Tuesday that the two leaders agree on the danger posed by Iran after the Islamic Republic tried to kill them both.
The Israeli premier praised Trump for pulling out of a deal on Iran's nuclear program, helping midwife a Gaza ceasefire deal freeing some Israeli hostages and restoring on Tuesday the so-called maximum pressure policy of sanctions on Iran from his first term.
"We see eye to eye on Iran. That's the same Iran that tried to kill us both. They tried to kill you, Mr. President, they tried, through their proxies, to kill me."
Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters launched a drone attack from Lebanon on Netanyahu's vacant seaside residence at the height of its conflict with Israel last year. US law enforcement accused Iran of seeking Trump's assassination as retaliation for his order to kill top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
"The roar of the Lion of Judah is heard loudly throughout the Middle East," Netanyahu said. "Israel has never been stronger and the Iran terror axis has never been weaker."
An attack by Iran-backed Hamas militants on Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 triggered a multi-front confrontation embroiling the Jewish state, Iran and the armed groups the Islamic Republic supports in the Middle East.
Over the course of the 15-month war which is now paused by the ceasefire, Israel throttled Hamas in Gaza, decapitated Hezbollah's leadership and helped bring about the downfall of the Assad dynasty in Syria, Iran's oldest Arab ally.
A direct attack on Iran on Oct. 26, 2024 knocked out much of its air defenses and left the Houthi group in Yemen its last largely undeterred affiliate in the region.
"We've devastated Hamas, we decimated Hezbollah, we destroyed Assad's remaining armaments and we crippled Iran's air defenses," Netanyahu added. "We've defeated some of America's worst enemies."
The Israeli premier cited the Americans among the over 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack and among the scores taken captive in Gaza.
"We're both committed to rolling back Iran's aggression in the region and ensuring that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon," Netanyahu continued.
"Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, Israel will end the war by winning the war. Israel's victory will be America's victory. We will not only win the war working together, we will win the peace."
Trump has repeatedly vowed to not allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon and said he much prefers a diplomatic solution.
