Axios<\/a>, the two leaders agreed during a White House meeting last week to intensify economic strangleholds on Iran. The strategy relies heavily on a recent executive order signed by Trump, which empowers the imposition of a 25 percent tariff on any nation conducting business with Iran \u2013 a direct threat to China, which currently buys more than 80 percent of Iranian crude.<\/p>\nHowever, while the tactics align, the strategic endgame remains contested.<\/p>\n
Trump has expressed a willingness to cut a deal, reportedly telling Netanyahu, \u201cLet\u2019s give it a shot.\u201d In contrast, the Israeli prime minister has privately argued with Trump that any agreement is futile, a stance analysts argue is designed to drag the US into a direct war with Tehran.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic gamble<\/h2>\n
Despite the hawkish rhetoric, the Trump administration has kept the diplomatic channel open. On February 6, Oman hosted indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran. That same evening, President Trump announced that a new round of talks would be held.<\/p>\n
Now, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet Iranian officials in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday for a second round of negotiations.<\/p>\n
The US proposal reportedly includes a suspension of uranium enrichment for three to five years and the removal of 450kg (992 pounds) of highly enriched uranium from the country, according to the Axios report.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, however, is pushing to expand the scope of any potential deal to include impossible conditions for Tehran, such as curbing its ballistic missile programme and severing ties with regional proxies.<\/p>\n
Mohannad Mustafa, an expert on Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera Arabic channel that Israel\u2019s insistence on broadening the terms is a calculated move to ensure diplomacy fails.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael knows Iran will not accept these conditions,\u201d Mustafa said. \u201cBy placing them, Israel is saying its only option is war. The current government has moved beyond using military force to achieve political settlements; war has become the goal itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cover for annexation<\/h2>\n
While global attention remains fixed on the potential for a regional conflagration, Palestinian leaders warn that Israel is exploiting the regional tensions to irreversibly alter the reality in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which has been turned into ruins following two years of nonstop bombardment.<\/p>\n
Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, said the focus on Iran serves as a smokescreen for Israel\u2019s accelerating annexation policies in the West Bank. Earlier this month, the Israeli cabinet approved measures to make it easier to grab Palestinian lands to expand illegal settlements, which is considered the biggest obstacle to a sovereign Palestinian state as part of the so-called two-state solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe picture is clear,\u201d Barghouti told Al Jazeera Arabic. \u201cIsrael wants to be the sole imperial power in the Middle East. They are using the pretext of the Iranian threat to drive the final nail into the coffin of the Oslo Accords, stripping the Palestinian Authority [PA] of powers even in Area A.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the 1993 Oslo Accord, the PA administers Areas A and B, while Israel remains in control of Area C, which is 60 percent of the West Bank. Since then, Israel has continued to expand illegal settlements in violation of the accord.<\/p>\n
Liqa Makki, a senior researcher at the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, echoed these concerns, noting that a potential US-Iran conflict would provide the perfect cover for mass expulsions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf war breaks out, Israel will exploit the global distraction to execute what it dreams of but fears to announce: real annexation and population transfer,\u201d Makki said. \u201cWhen the dust settles, the West Bank will look completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior members of Netanyahu\u2019s far-right coalition have made no secret of these ambitions. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have repeatedly called for the \u201cvoluntary migration\u201d of Palestinians and the re-establishment of illegal settlements in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Smotrich has previously denied the existence of a Palestinian people, declaring that their ambitions must be crushed to ensure Jewish control between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n
Nuclear double standards<\/h2>\n
The renewed focus on Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities has also reignited debate over Western double standards regarding Israel\u2019s undeclared nuclear arsenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael possesses 200 nuclear warheads and is one of the strongest military powers in the world,\u201d Barghouti said, dismissing the narrative that Israel faces an existential threat from Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe existential threat is being faced by the Palestinian people, who are being liquidated,\u201d Barghouti added.<\/p>\n
Since October 2023, Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, reducing vast swaths of the territory to rubble. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces and armed settlers have killed hundreds more, displacing more than 40,000 people and systematically dismantling Palestinian infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Paul Davis, a professor at the Global Policy Institute, defended the US stance, arguing that while Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for years without using them, Iran\u2019s enrichment to 60 percent signals aggressive intent.<\/p>\n
Mustafa, however, concluded that Israel\u2019s approach indicates a total rejection of diplomacy in favour of reshaping the Middle East by force.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael is trying to cancel any possibility of reaching settlements on all fronts,\u201d Mustafa said. \u201cThey want to topple the Iranian regime to change the face of the region, regardless of the economic or human cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Israeli objective is not merely disarmament but government change in Iran, which Netanyahu called the \u201chead of the octopus\u201d coordinating a multi-front war of attrition through allies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. However, the weakening of Hezbollah and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria have dealt a huge blow to Iran\u2019s so-called \u201cAxis of Resistance\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have solidified a strategy of \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d against Iran, targeting the country\u2019s vital oil exports to China, even as deep rifts emerge regarding the ultimate goal of the escalation. According to a report by Axios, the two leaders agreed during a White House meeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}