Trump: Israel would be ‘leader’ of Iran strike if Tehran doesn’t give up nuclear weapons program
By AAMER MADHANI
Updated 6:13 PM EDT, April 9, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel would be the “leader” of a potential military strike against Iran if Tehran doesn’t give up its nuclear weapons program.
Trump made the comments ahead of this weekend’s scheduled talks involving U.S. and Iranian officials in the Middle East sultanate of Oman. Trump earlier this week said the talks would be “direct” while Iran has described the engagement as “indirect” talks with the U.S.
“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump said. “Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. They’ll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us, but we do what we want to do.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week said he supports Trump’s diplomatic efforts to reach a settlement with Iran. He added that Israel and the U.S. share the same goal of ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu, however, led efforts to persuade Trump to pull out of a U.S.-brokered deal with Iran in 2018.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-trump-nuclear-weapons-program-702e7dfa4c3609f8cefdcb9f67b8117a
