JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a diplomatic deal was not possible with the "savages" who rule Iran as he hailed US President Donald Trump's new campaign of economic pressure.
Recounting a recent meeting with Trump, Netanyahu said they had discussed the possibility of diplomacy with the Islamic republic and added: "I doubt, however, that an agreement can be reached with that group there, with those savages.
"I tell you -- an agreement cannot be reached," Netanyahu told an event late Tuesday at an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu has long been sceptical of diplomacy with Iran, openly campaigning against a 2015 nuclear deal brokered by then US president Barack Obama, but he has been publicly careful not to criticise Trump while he sought a negotiated settlement.
Trump joined Netanyahu in a US-Israeli joint attack on Iran in late February but agreed to a ceasefire in April in the face of widespread US public opposition to the war, which had sent oil prices spiralling.
Trump on Monday declared "economic D-Day" aimed at destroying Iran's economy, which has already endured years of sanctions, but he has shown reluctance to resume a full-scale war even as he grows frustrated that Tehran will not accept his demands.
Netanyahu voiced support for Trump's economic pressure campaign and said he had told Trump of this "third option", while praising the US president for pursuing it in "a very, very, very strong way".
Trump had chosen to target not just Iran itself but decided on "tightening the siege on those who assist this regime, this terrible dictatorship. This is very important," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader had pushed for years for a US attack on Iran, whose Shia cleric-run state supports anti-Israel armed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which led the devastating October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.