A senior Iranian official on Monday excoriated a meeting between U.S. and Israeli officials, calling it an illegal effort to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei blasted the meeting as a violation of international law and an effort that, in his view, Washington, D.C., and Tel Aviv remain powerless to stop.
“When it comes to a country like Iran, they cannot do a damn thing,” he told reporters Monday, according to a readout provided by state media.
Baghaei took aim at the sit-down between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, just one day earlier. Their meeting reportedly focused heavily on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
INDIAN PRIME MINISTER MODI TAKES PAGE FROM TRUMP, SAYS ‘MAKE INDIA GREAT AGAIN,’ OR ‘MIGA’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a plane en route to El Salvador at Panama Pacifico International Airport in Panama City on Feb. 3, 2025.(MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/Pool AP/AFP via Getty Images)
Netanyahu, for his part, had signaled growing momentum between the U.S. and his country to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, telling reporters after the Sunday meeting, “I have no doubt we can and will finish the job.”
However, this was sharply disputed by Baghaei.
“You cannot threaten Iran on one hand and claim to support dialogue on the other hand,” he added.
Baghaei’s remarks come after Netanyahu boasted that Israeli military operations have weakened Iran’s proxy groups in the Middle East, including the Palestinian terror group Hamas.
“We can and will finish the job,” the Israeli prime minister said.
ISRAEL WILL ‘MAKE SURE’ HAMAS DOES NOT STAY IN POWER IN GAZA, DANNY DANON WARNS
President Donald Trump, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak during a news conference in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C.(Alex Brandon/AP)
Some analysts have suggested that Israel’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric, including on Tehran’s nuclear program, could risk derailing Trump’s stated interest in reaching a peace deal with Iran.
Rubio said yesterday that the meeting furthered what he described as President Donald Trump’s “bold” plan for Gaza, describing Iran as the single biggest obstacle to peace in the region. “The president has also been very bold about his view of what the future for Gaza should be. Not the same tired ideas of the past, but something that’s bold and something that, frankly, took courage and vision in order to outline,” he said.
Netanyahu also said that he and Trump share a “common strategy” for Gaza that includes the complete destruction of Hamas as a political and military force.
SAUDI ARABIA CONTRADICTS TRUMP, VOWS NO TIES WITH ISRAEL WITHOUT CREATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE
President Trump has said he wants to “take over” Gaza.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Trump last week suggested removing Palestinians from Gaza, so the territory could be developed under U.S. ownership.
He has since said he stands by the plan, despite broad concerns and criticism of further conflict and displacement.
“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” Trump said then. “As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it, other people may do it, through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back.”
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The U.S.-Israel meeting also served a symbolic purpose. During the sit-down, the U.S. sent a shipment of heavy bombs and munitions to Israel, in keeping with Trump’s promise to do so last month.
The munitions and bomb shipments, “represents a significant asset for the Air Force and the IDF,” an Israeli defense official said, “and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States.”
Fox News’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
Massive AI Stargate Project under Trump admin reveals next steps
Elon Musk says he’ll drop $97B OpenAI purchase offer if ChatGPT maker stays a nonprofit
‘The Simpsons’ star fears AI could rip off his work, but says there’s one thing it cannot recreate
BREAKING GROUND: Stargate, the massive artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project recently unveiled by President Donald Trump, has begun production in Texas — with data center construction in other states expected to be announced in the coming months.
ON ONE CONDITION: Elon Musk will withdraw his unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion to take over OpenAI if its board of directors stops the company’s conversion into a for-profit entity.
Elon Musk.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
EXISTENTIAL THREAT: OPINION: Our socioeconomic system is facing an existential threat from AI. In our capitalist society, most people depend on jobs to sustain themselves. The U.S. government, in turn, relies heavily on taxing the income of individual workers for revenue.
UNCHARTED TERRITORY: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman commended Vice President JD Vance’s artificial intelligence (AI) speech in Paris on Tuesday while laying out his vision for how people can take advantage of the rapidly evolving technology at the same conference.
INHUMAN CARTOON: “The Simpsons” star Hank Azaria has voiced his fears over artificial intelligence in a new opinion piece.
AI ROMANCE SCAMS: “Love is blind” takes on a more sinister meaning when so-called artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a tool for exploiting our deepest human emotions.
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FIRST ON FOX: Expansionist rhetoric has been a major concern in NATO for several years amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but according to Greece’s top defense official, the security alliance should take seriously similar threats from within its own coalition, in particular from Turkey.
A decades-old feud over the island nation of Cyprus between Greece and Turkey, both of which have been members of NATO since 1952, has plagued the alliance for over half a century and spill-over conflicts pushed the two countries nearly to the brink of war in the 1990s.
Though relations between Greece and Turkey have become less outwardly hostile in recent years, Erdoğan’s pursuit of regional natural resources coupled with his controversial geopolitical actions in the Middle East and Aegean Sea have long drawn criticism that he is looking to “recreate” the Ottoman Empire.
Nikos Dendias, minister of national defense of Greece, delivers a speech for Greece’s Independence Day in Athens March 25, 2024. (Giorgos Arapekos/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
TURKEY AND GREECE LEADERS TO MEET, PUT FRIENDSHIP INITIATIVE TO THE TEST AMID GAZA AND UKRAINE WARS
“There’s some people in Turkey that go back to the Ottoman times and believe that they could recreate the Ottoman Empire, including parts of Greece, parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, parts of Iran, half of the Caucasus, etc.,” Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said during an interview with Fox News Digital.
“I hope that this is daydream, but it creates a lot of problems in the relations with Greece, a lot of problems within NATO.”
Erdoğan, who has been president of Turkey since 2014, has long been criticized for his aggressive approach in dealing with regional nations like Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Israel, but also his oppressive practices at home that have targeted non-Sunni communities, including Shiites and Christians, journalists, women and Kurds. It’s an issue that has not only blocked Turkey from joining the European Union, but has increasingly held geopolitical ramifications for the U.S.
The U.S.’s chief ally in the fight against ISIS in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has found itself in Ankara’s crosshairs as it views the Kurdish-affiliated force as being akin to the terrorist network, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Turkey has routinely targeted the group and prompted international concern over how the SDF will be able to continue to effectively fight ISIS should the Trump administration withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.
U.S. forces provide military training to members of the YPG/SDF, which Turkey considers an extension of PKK in Syria, in the Qamisli district in the Al-Hasakah province of Syria Aug. 18, 2023.(Hedil Amir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“ISIS, let us be frank and honest, is down but not out,” Dendias said. “The ideology behind ISIS, the ideology behind the Muslim Brotherhood is there, is alive and kicking.
“And I have to say, the worst thing that you can do in life is forget your allies, forget the people who fought by your side in your hour of need, and turn against them or forget about them,” the defense minister continued. “I’m speaking about the Kurds fighting against ISIS for years. They should not be forgotten by the West.”
TRUMP SAYS TURKEY ‘DID AN UNFRIENDLY TAKEOVER’ IN SYRIA AS US-BROKERED CEASE-FIRE APPEARS TO FAIL
The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime has renewed concerns over regional stability, and the close dynamic between Trump and Erdoğan has raised more questions about how the Turkish president will pursue his regional ambitions.
Dendias argued that the close relationship allegedly shared between the two world leaders will not necessarily embolden Erdoğan and could uniquely position Trump to “whisper” in the ear of the Turkish leader and remind him that “international law, international [rules] of the sea, is a way of life in this modern world.”
“I assume that it will not be good at all for NATO and would not be good at all for the United States of America to encourage Turkey to create a huge problem in the eastern front of NATO, taking also into account what’s happening in the Middle East and what’s happening between Russia and Ukraine,” the defense minster added.
The Blue Homeland-2025 Exercise, organized by the Turkish Naval Forces Command in the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, and Eastern Mediterranean, commenced Jan. 8, 2025, in Mugla, Turkey.(Sabri Kesen/Anadolu via Getty Images)
TURKISH LEADER CLAIMS US BASES IN GREECE POSE DIRECT ‘THREAT’ AMID SPAT WITH ATHENS OVER NATO EXPANSION
Earlier this month, Turkey relaunched military exercises in the Black, Mediterranean and Aegean Seas known as “Blue Homeland,” which Greece has long viewed as a show of force and prompted long-held maritime disputes to resurface.
“This [is a] new Turkish neo-imperialist, neo-Ottoman approach,” Dendias said. “It started appearing somewhere in the first decade of the 21st century … which, in essence, claims that half of the Greek islands in the Aegean belong to Turkey.
President Donald Trump, during his first presidency talks with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as they arrive together for a family photo at a summit of heads of state and government at NATO headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
“And sometimes they even go further. They claim that Crete, a huge island with very important NATO presence and an American base in Souda – again, should belong to Turkey.”
The defense minster said Greece’s tense relations with Turkey have made its defensive posture in NATO unique because it has forced Athens to be on top of its defense spending, an issue that has once again become a top matter of discussion in the NATO alliance due to Trump’s push to have all nations meet a 5% GDP spending limit, up from 2%.
The latest NATO spending figures released in June 2024 show Greece was the fifth-highest spender on defense in the alliance, spending more than 3% of its GPD, while Turkey came in 18th and spent just over 2% of its GDP on defense.
ANKARA, TURKEY- MAY 13: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) of Greece shakes hands with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey during a press conference after their meeting on May 13, 2024 in Ankara, Turkey. (Yavuz Ozden/ dia images via Getty Images)
Dendias said European nations need to collectively agree on how they view security threat levels and the importance of defense spending.
“Regardless of President Trump’s position on 5%, it’s an internal issue and needs to be resolved,” Dendias added.
“The biggest threat is countries that do not abide by international law and do not abide by international law of the sea. Countries that believe that borders [are] something that you can disregard, that treaties and international treaties should work only if it’s to your advantage,” Dendias said. “That is the biggest threat to the whole world, not just Greece.”
Additional questions to Dendias about President Trump’s recent comments on his refusal to rule out military intervention in acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal were not answered.
The Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C. did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions but instead pointed to a statement issued by the Turkish Minister of National Defense, Yaşar Güler, who ahead of the “Blue Homeland” exercises said, “Our country, located at the very heart of a region surrounded by conflicts and disputes, consistently emphasizes its commitment to international law and peace in preventing tensions and resolving crises.
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“We approach the development of our relations with our neighbor Greece within this framework and take significant steps toward resolving problems,” he added. “The efforts to portray Turkey’s determination to protect its rights and interests in the ‘Blue Homeland’ as ‘historical expansionism and aggression’ are nothing more than a futile attempt to disregard the rights granted to Turkey by international law.
“However, while striving for a peaceful solution, we strongly emphasize that we will never compromise our national rights and interests,” Güler said earlier this month.
