Failed to Cripple Iran, Trump-Netanyahu Start Quarrelling Themselves
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON – Israel’s attack on the Pars gas field in Iranian territory, along with Iran’s retaliation across the entire Gulf region, has triggered a rift between the US and Israel. US President Donald Trump claimed that he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to carry out the attack.
Trump stated on Thursday that he had told Netanyahu not to attack Iran’s energy fields, adding that the Israeli Prime Minister had agreed not to do so.
“I told him, ‘Don’t do it’, and he wasn’t going to do it,” he said to reporters in the Oval Office at the White House.
Meanwhile, the US side has for the first time stated that the objectives of America and Israel in the war against Iran are not the same. US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Thursday that Israel is focused on crippling Iran’s leadership, whereas Trump is focused on destroying Iran’s ballistic missile programme and navy.
“The objectives set by the president differ from the objectives set by the Israeli government,” Gabbard said at the annual hearing of the House intelligence committee on global threats to the United States.
The US and Israel have repeatedly tried to highlight their close coordination in joint airstrikes against Iran. However, recently officials on both sides have acknowledged that their objectives are not aligned.
Gabbard’s statement contradicts Trump’s tweet at the beginning of the attacks. At that time, Trump clearly provoked the Iranian people to overthrow the regime and promised US assistance if they did so.
When assassinations of Iranian leaders failed to spark unrest, Trump began to change his narrative. As the conflict approaches three weeks, Israel has led attacks that have killed Iranian clerics and military leaders, while the US has focused on striking locations related to the country’s missile programme.
Trump’s latest statement appears to be an attempt to distance himself from Israel’s attack and Iran’s devastating retaliation that has set fire to oil and gas facilities in US-allied Gulf states.