Trump: Netanyahu ‘wants me to stay involved’ in Iran

[0:00] Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. Five months into this war with Iran. And what does President Trump have to show for it? Well, 61% of the American people disapprove for one. 18 U.S. service members have been killed. More than 600 have been wounded. The Strait of Hormuz is largely closed. A toll on the U.S. munitions stockpile has taken place. And of course, high gas prices at the pump. [0:22] And while President Trump paused strikes this weekend after hitting Iran for 13 straight days, there is still no clear strategic advantage or plan to get out. Now, five months might be way too soon to declare this a quagmire, but it does not seem as though President Trump knows a clear way out of this. Oh, and that nuclear sites, those nuclear sites that Trump claimed that the U.S. obliterated last year. There are now satellite images showing Iran might be rebuilding them, including one called Pickaxe Mountain. [0:52] All this culminating on the day that Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with President Trump at the White House for about an hour and a half. Hours before their meeting, Trump downplayed pressure to escalate the war with Iran, underscoring a strain in the U.S.-Israeli relationship. [1:12] This is what Trump said when asked on Fox before the Oval Office meeting about reports of Netanyahu's plan to share intelligence about Iran. [1:19] I don't need that. BB's telling me that because he wants me to stay involved. We know exactly what's going on. [1:25] No, I heard BB announce that. I said, why don't you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world? I know exactly what's going on at Pickaxe. It's not a big problem. [1:34] We took out their nuclear sites and we'll have to take out Pickaxe if we don't make a deal. If we don't make a deal, we'll take it out very easily. [1:43] Trump also threatened again to destroy Iranian bridges and power plants if no deal is made. [1:48] If they don't make a deal, the bridges are going to be gone. Literally in less than a, I would say in two hours, most of the bridges, the major bridges will all be gone. [2:01] And the power plants in one day. And, you know, if I can avoid doing that, I'd like to do that. [2:09] Iran and the U.S. may have stopped shooting at each other for now. As for any peace talks, however, those do not appear to be going anywhere. [2:17] Joining us now is former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, who served under President Biden. [2:21] And we should note he is also the spouse of a CNN executive. [2:25] Ambassador Nides, hours before meeting with Netanyahu, President Trump put down the Israeli prime minister's intelligence about Iran rebuilding its nuclear sites. [2:34] He said Netanyahu wants him to stay involved with the Iran war. [2:37] Do you see this as a sign that Trump is trying to find a political off-ramp, perhaps even blaming Netanyahu for pushing him into this war? [2:45] Well, first of all, Jake, thanks for having me. But I think, you know, the sad part about this for the prime minister, he's in a cul-de-sac. [2:52] He can't get out, right? He's got on one hand, he's got the Israeli people who are disappointed. [2:57] They're still under an enormous amount of threat. They believe that the actions that were been taken over the last five months was going to lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, [3:06] including, as he pointed out, potentially a regime change. [3:10] On the other hand, he knows that President Trump wants the war to end. [3:13] President Trump has been a great friend of the state of Israel, and he understands that President Trump wants this over. [3:19] So does the Iranians. So we're in a very complicated place. [3:22] And I just, it's hard to imagine that five months ago, the Straits of Hormuz was actually open, and now we're fighting to reopen it. [3:31] So again, I, you know, the prime minister got, and oh, by the way, the president, the prime minister has an election coming up in October. [3:36] The complications here are immense. At the end of the day, you know, I think all of us would like to have a peaceful revolution, [3:42] the resolution of this as quickly as possible. [3:44] Netanyahu described the meeting he had with Trump as one of the best conversations they've had. [3:49] How much does Netanyahu need the U.S. to help fight Israel's battles? [3:54] A hundred percent. I mean, we are the most important ally to the state of Israel. [4:00] Obviously, the state of Israel has their own ability to defend themselves, and it's proven over and over again. [4:04] But we are the most important ally to the state of Israel, which I am proud to be part of. [4:10] But that said, at the end of the day, that comes with a price. [4:13] And the price is obviously you're working with President Trump. [4:16] And when President Trump is making decisions, for good or for bad, or for right or for wrong, [4:21] the prime minister is going to have to listen to those decisions. [4:24] The war with Iran recently renewed fighting between Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia. [4:31] Shipping through the Bab al-Mandab Strait is now threatened, putting even more stress on the global economy. [4:36] What are the risks if this truly becomes a whole new full-bore front to this U.S. war with Iran, except through proxies? [4:44] Well, listen, Jake, I think none of us want to see that happen. [4:48] Listen, I think at the end of the day, you know, it reminds me, as I hearken back, you know, [4:52] if, you know, a lot of people didn't like the JCPOA, the agreement that we and the Biden administration [4:57] or the Obama administration were negotiating early on. [5:01] But I bet you right now, today, if the JCPOA was presented to Donald Trump, as was written back then, [5:07] I think everyone would be very pleased to sign it. [5:11] And, you know, on the day of, you know, Lindsey Graham's, you know, funeral, listen, [5:14] I had enormous respect for Senator Graham. [5:17] I didn't agree with him on all things, but I had enormous respect. [5:20] He was pushing. [5:21] We were close to getting normalization with the Saudis and really creating a new paradigm in the region. [5:28] Obviously, October 7th happened. [5:30] And now we are where we are today. [5:32] So a lot of decisions were made. [5:34] And my hope is that that this will, at some point, I think President Trump wants to find an exit ramp here, [5:39] that we get the Straits of Armusten, we can go after the nuclear, you know, [5:43] the systems and get a diplomatic answer to what needs to be resolved here. [5:47] I have to ask you about a crisis in Israel, or in the West Bank, rather, that is just awful. [5:55] Israel is now preparing a major military operation in the West Bank following a surge in violence. [6:00] Two Israeli soldiers, four Palestinians, were recently killed. [6:03] There is settler violence against Palestinians. [6:07] Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, former prime minister, he referred to it as Jewish terrorists. [6:13] I asked him how he would handle it. [6:14] Take a listen. [6:17] I would send 300 police officers and two battalions of border patrol and deal with it. [6:24] The first of all... [6:25] Deal with the settlers. [6:26] With the settlers' violence. [6:27] First of all, this is Jewish terror. [6:28] This is a disgrace for Israel. [6:31] And nobody understands why the government is not taking stronger measures. [6:38] Nobody understands why the government is not taking stronger measures. [6:41] It seems to me that it's because Smotrich and Ben-Gavir are part of the Netanyahu cabinet. [6:50] They are zealots. [6:51] They are extremists. [6:52] And Netanyahu wants to stay in power. [6:54] Am I wrong? [6:55] It makes me ill that this is happening. [6:58] When I was ambassador, I was the person who basically sanctioned the settlers and made [7:02] sure that they would never get a visa to come to the United States. [7:05] It is a sickening thing. [7:07] We, those of us who support Israel, which I do, those of us who consider ourselves a Zionist, [7:12] which I do, it makes me sick to watch that happen. [7:15] We need to stop it. [7:17] The prime minister needs to stop it. [7:19] Ben-Gavir and Smotrich, hopefully that they won't be around post-October because this kind [7:23] of behavior, we don't have a point for this. [7:26] This is, you know, you can love Israel or disagree with Israel. [7:29] This kind of behavior needs to stop and we need to understand it does not make Israel [7:33] safer. [7:34] That's what I argue all the time. [7:36] It does not make Israel safer. [7:37] And it's not just the seller of violence. [7:39] It's many of the things that we're doing, the Palestinian people, including the economic [7:42] issues that have been written extensively about. [7:45] So listen, this is a very complicated situation in the Middle East, but certainly no one should [7:50] stand around and think what's going on with settler violence is any way, you know, the appropriate [7:55] action being taken. [7:57] Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nights, thank you so much for being here.