US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on December 29 ended with the two leaders’ display of a united front, with Trump saying Israel had “lived up” to its commitments to sustain the fragile Gaza ceasefire and that the onus now lay on Palestinian militant group, Hamas.
“If they don’t disarm as they agreed to do, then there will be hell to pay for them,” Trump said at his lavish Mar-a-Lago resort, adding, “They have to disarm in a fairly short period of time.”
This was the two leaders’ fifth meeting in the United States since Trump returned to power for the second term in January this year. The latest round of talks focused on regional tensions points, including Syria and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the Gaza peace plan, and reports that Iran is rebuilding its ballistic missile arsenal after coming under attack during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Trump said Iran “may be behaving badly” and was looking at new nuclear sites to replace those targeted by US strikes during the same conflict, as well as restoring its missiles.
“I hope they’re not trying to build up again because if they are, we’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup,” Trump said, warning that the US response this time “may be more powerful than the last time.”
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However, Iran was still interested in a nuclear and missiles programmes deal with Washington, the US President insisted, a claim Tehran denies, labelling it as a psychological operation” against Tehran.
On Monday, Iran stressed that it was fully prepared to defend itself, and warned that renewed aggression would “result in harsher consequences” for Israel.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, said the meeting with Trump had been “very productive”, and announced another felicitation for the US President – Israel’s highest civilian honour – being awarded to a non-Israeli citizen for the first time.
The two met after a series of strategic talks held by Trump in person with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and on phone with EU leaders, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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