Steve Witkoff speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Trump\u2019s advisers appear to be saying that this round of negotiations will aim to go farther than the Obama deal. Trump not only wants to monitor and limit the Iranian program, but to dismantle it. In exchange, Trump could offer sanctions relief, and Iran has floated the possibility of inviting U.S. investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see,\u201d Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, told CBS in March.<\/p>\n
Trump also hopes to stem Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program as well as its support for regional terror groups. So while the talks aren\u2019t directly about the Gaza war, they could affect it. It\u2019s possible that, in the wake of Oct. 7, 2023, Iran will be compelled, as part of a deal, to withhold its support for its \u201cAxis of Resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
How do Netanyahu and Israel feel about the talks?<\/strong><\/p>\nIran has no louder critic in the world than Netanyahu. For decades, he\u2019s been globetrotting to speak out against the dangers the regime poses, seen by many to be acting as a present-day Winston Churchill facing down the greatest international threat of his day. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s brought a picture of a cartoon bomb to the United Nations to illustrate the point. Year after year, he proclaimed that the biggest threats facing Israel were \u201cIran, Iran and Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
He isn\u2019t alone. The vast majority of Jewish Israelis opposed Obama\u2019s Iran deal. And criticism of Netanyahu\u2019s Iran policy, within Israel, focuses largely on his tactics, which his critics said were overly antagonistic toward Obama. In other words, there\u2019s no pro-Iran caucus to speak of within Israel\u2019s political mainstream. <\/p>\n
But this time, as opposed to 2015, in public Netanyahu is putting on a happy face. Trump is a close ally of the embattled prime minister, personally and ideologically, and Netanyahu almost never criticizes him in public as he did Biden or Obama. <\/p>\n
Sitting alongside Trump, Netanyahu refrained from criticizing the impending talks \u2014 and tried to shape their parameters. He said the only good deal would be one that mimics Libya\u2019s surrender, in 2003, of its nuclear arsenal. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both united in the goal that Iran does not ever get nuclear weapons,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cIf it can be done diplomatically in the full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing but whatever happens we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is Iran saying?<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s insisting that it does not want nuclear weapons \u2014 its president said Iran is \u201cnot after\u201d them \u2014 and pivoted to welcoming the benefits of a deal with Trump. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis excellency has no opposition to investment by American investors in Iran,\u201d President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech in Tehran, referring to the supreme leader. \u201cAmerican investors: Come and invest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran said earlier this week that the talks would be indirect, contradicting Trump. And the country is also taking a threatening tone of its own: On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi also referenced the possibility of violence. <\/p>\n
\u201cMark my words: Iran prefers diplomacy, but it knows how to defend itself,\u201d he wrote on X. <\/p>\n
What happens if the talks fail?<\/strong><\/p>\nBefore Trump\u2019s announcement, some Israelis were pushing for a strike on Iran, arguing that the time was ripe. Now, both Netanyahu and Trump are saying that could happen if the talks fail \u2014 and that Israel would take the lead. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the talks aren\u2019t successful with Iran, I think Iran\u2019s going to be in great danger \u2026 because they can\u2019t have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump said during his White House press conference with Netanyahu. He added that if the talks fail, \u201cIt\u2019ll be a very bad day for Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu sent a more explicit message on Tuesday, saying that if Iran \u201cdrags out\u201d the talks, \u201cthen there is the military option. Everyone understands this. We spoke about this at length.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Trump reiterated the stakes on Wednesday \u2014 adding that Israel would play a central role in any military action.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can\u2019t have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump told reporters about Iran, Reuters reported. \u201cIf it requires military, we\u2019re going to have military. Israel will, obviously, be\u2026 the leader of that. No one leads us. We do what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/03-27-2020-Khamenei.jpg\")