Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he urged US President Donald Trump to consider tightening the “siege” on Iran during their July meeting in Washington, linking his proposal to the expanded sanctions campaign threatened by the United States this week.
The new measures, detailed earlier this week by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, target Iran’s digital assets and technology, gold, aviation and shipping sectors, with secondary sanctions potentially affecting entities in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Europe transporting Iranian oil.
Netanyahu said he and Trump discussed three possible approaches to Iran during their White House meeting — diplomacy, military action and increasing pressure on Tehran — while expressing doubt that an agreement could be reached with what he called “those savages” in Iran.
“I spoke with President Trump several weeks ago at the White House, in the Oval Office. We discussed three options [against Iran],” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office from a Hebrew-language speech at an event in Jerusalem on Tuesday night.
The prime minister said the first option was reaching an agreement with Tehran, but questioned whether such a deal was realistic.
