Washington DC: US President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a very difficult guy" and claimed that he almost "derailed" the Iran peace deal with the airstrike on Lebanon's capital, Beirut.
He further said that Israel "should be very thankful" to the US for negotiating a peace deal, deterring Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
“He’s a very difficult guy,” Trump said, adding, “And to be honest with you, he should be very thankful to us for doing this. Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours,” he added.
Trump made the remarks in interviews with The New York Times and Axios after the United States and Iran announced a framework agreement aimed at ending months of conflict, halting military operations, and opening negotiations on unresolved issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme, according to a Moneycontrol report.
Deal to be signed
The deal is scheduled to be signed on June 19 (Friday) in Switzerland and will lay guidelines for opening the commercial shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz and the future of Iran's nuclear programme.
Warning to Tehran
Trump also said that if leadership in Tehran failed to reach a final nuclear accord with the United States within the stipulated timeframe set in the terms of the deal, the US military would restart attacks on Iran or make the United States "the guardian of the Middle East" in return for 20 per cent of the region's revenues.
