As expected, Israel says it is preparing to keep waging war against Iran - even as the US and Tehran are engaged in high level talks in Pakistan. Clearly Tel Aviv has a dim view of the potential outcome in the Islamabad summit.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a fresh statement Saturday vowed he will continue fighting Iran and its allies, in a post that also took a swipe at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"Israel under my leadership will continue to fight Iran’s terror regime and its proxies," Netanyahu wrote on X. He then turned to blasting Erdogan for "accommodating" Iran and being responsible for "massacres" of Kurdish citizens.
Ever since the Gaza war began well over two years ago, Turkey and Israel have been locked in a bitter war of words which at times included sanctions and a regional trade war.
Erdogan has frequently accused Israeli leaders of genocide and of seeking to take over the whole Middle East. In Syria, Turkish and Israeli warplanes have even come close to engaging in conflict. The two remain the most influential and powerful countries in the Near East region. In many ways they are direct rivals in the region.
It remains unclear whether Netanyahu is saying that he will keep attacking Iran no matter the outcome of ceasefire talks. Elsewhere the Israelis have said they are indeed willing to uphold a potential Trump deal, and certainly Washington would pressure them to do so in the event a final truce is agreed to.
But at the same time, Netanyahu has long sworn that he'll never tolerate a nuclear armed Iran. For this reason, Israel's stance remains a big wild card pending the outcome of talks.
Watch Netanyahu's full statement below:
Israel could potentially sabotage any ceasefire deal out of Pakistan. For example it could keep attacking Iran, or also Lebanon. This week's major attacks in Lebanon have threatened to derail the Islamabad process before it even began.
Hezbollah has said it will respect any US-Iran deal, but has also been lobbing rockets into northern Israel. Israel's position is that any Lebanon deal be separated out from Islamabad.
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