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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged US President Donald Trump to launch fresh military strikes against Iran immediately after Tuesday's US midterm elections, amid concerns in Israel over Washington's continued pursuit of a diplomatic solution with Tehran, Axios reported.
According to Axios, Trump and Netanyahu held a telephone conversation on Saturday (local time) to discuss the progress of US negotiations with Iran and the possibility of resuming military operations. An Israeli source described the conversation as "tough", while a US source characterised it as "direct". However, speaking to reporters in Iowa on Sunday (local time), Trump described the conversation as "very good" and said that the two leaders had discussed Iran, without providing further details. The report said Netanyahu is pushing for military action against Iran after the midterm elections, while Trump wants to allow negotiations with Tehran to continue for now. According to Axios, Trump is pursuing parallel diplomatic and military strategies, seeking an agreement to restart peace talks while keeping preparations underway for a possible resumption of major combat operations after the elections. Trump told reporters on Saturday that negotiations with Iran were "going fine" and that he was not "in much of a hurry". However, he maintained that Washington still needed to address one or two nuclear sites in Iran, specifically referring to the suspected underground facility at Pickaxe Mountain. Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance last week sent a letter to Iran's national security chief Mohsen Rezaei regarding the possibility of restarting negotiations, marking the highest-level US outreach to Tehran in several months, Axios reported. Qatari mediators also met Iranian officials on Sunday for the third consecutive day in an effort to facilitate an agreement to resume direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no agreement had been reached so far, stressing that progress depended on Washington responding to Tehran's questions. "We are making every effort in this regard and hope that the other side will demonstrate enough rationality to choose diplomacy over other paths," Araghchi said. (ANI)
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