Israel and the United States will work together to defeat Iran and end its regional influence, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a message congratulating US president Donald Trump on his inauguration day.
“I am confident that we will complete the defeat of Iran’s terror axis and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for our region,” Netanyahu said addressing Trump in a video released on Monday.
“You withdrew from the dangerous Iran nuclear deal, you recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital … and you recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” Netanyahu said, reflecting on Trump’s first term and his pro-Israel, anti-Iran policies.
With Trump’s return to the White House, significant shifts in US foreign policy are anticipated, particularly in the Middle East.
Israel's former defense minister Yoav Gallant also mentioned Iran in his congratulation note on Trump's inauguration day.
"Our ties are critical to Israel’s security and prosperity - to the return of the hostages, to the removal of the Iranian threat, to achieving our common goal of dismantling the ‘axis of evil’," he wrote in a post on X.
The Trump administration is expected to take a hard stance against Tehran. Both the president and senior members of his team have promised a return of the so-called maximum pressure campaign on Iran.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump said he wished prosperity for Iran but stressed the long-standing Washington red line that the theocracy must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
Anticipating potential pressures, some in Iran including senior aides to Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian have openly called for talks with the Trump administration, suggesting even that the country’s markets can be opened to American companies.
This has not gone down well with the more hardline factions of the Islamic Republic, who inspired and encouraged by the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, warn against any advance by Tehran toward Washington.
