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.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio advanced President Donald Trump’s “bold” plan for Gaza during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
Rubio and Netanyahu both highlighted that Iran is the single largest obstacle to peace in the region during a Sunday joint statement. While Netanyahu did not comment on Trump’s specific plans for Gaza, Rubio emphasized that the U.S. and Israel cannot return to “tired” strategies that have failed to produce peace in the past.
“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. And it may have shocked and surprised many, but what cannot continue is the same cycle we’ll repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place,” Rubio said.
Netanyahu affirmed that he and Trump share a “common strategy” for Gaza that includes the complete destruction of Hamas as a political and military force. He did not comment specifically on Trump’s stated plans to develop Gaza.
TRUMP’S GAZA RELOCATION PROPOSAL SPARKS HEATED DEBATE AMONG PALESTINIANS: ‘NO LIFE LEFT HERE’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.(Courtesy GPO)
Netanyahu vowed to “open the gates of hell” on Hamas if it did not follow through with releasing every remaining hostage in Gaza.
Rubio and Netanyahu discussed various other threats in the Middle East, including the collapse of Syria’s government and the presence of Hezbollah in Lebanon, among other things.
SAUDI ARABIA CONTRADICTS TRUMP, VOWS NO TIES WITH ISRAEL WITHOUT CREATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE
“The common theme in all these challenges is Iran. It is the single greatest source of instability in the region, behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people who call this region home, is Iran,” Rubio said.
President Trump has put forward a “bold” plan to develop Gaza.(Getty Images / Fox News Digital)
“There can never be a nuclear Iran, a nuclear Iran that could then hold itself immune from pressure and from action. That can never happen,” he added.
‘LEVEL IT’: TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST
The meeting comes more than a week after Trump raised eyebrows with a call to remove Palestinians from Gaza and develop the area under U.S. ownership. Trump said he remains committed to the plan despite heavy pushback.
Palestinians continue to return back to their homes after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, amid destruction in Gaza City, Gaza on Feb. 2, 2025. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” Trump said. “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.”
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
Students in Iran continued to protest the fatal robbery of a 19-year-old student on campus last week on Saturday.
Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, 19, a business student at Tehran University, was killed in a robbery near a campus dormitory on Wednesday, sparking protests on Friday.
The protesters are accusing school officials of failing to keep students safe on campus, according to local media.
The demonstrators clashed with police on Friday near where Khaleghi was killed outside a university dormitory by two unknown robbers.
IRAN’S CAMPAIGN TRAIL THREATS AGAINST TRUMP MORE SERIOUS THAN PUBLICLY REPORTED, BOOK CLAIMS
Students in Iran continued to protest the fatal robbery of a 19-year-old student on campus last week on Saturday. (Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)
He later died in a hospital.
The protesters shouted things like “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!”
Amid the outcry, Iran’s vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, ordered an “immediate” investigation into Khaleghi’s death.
Hossein Sarraf, Iran’s Minister of Science, Research, and Technology also warned protesters that “university issues must not extend beyond campus. Those who enter unlawfully will face severe consequences, and there will be no leniency in this matter,” according to the state-run ISNA news agency.
The protest was not politically motivated, but demonstrations in the country can sometimes lead to political unrest under the harsh regime.
Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, 19, a business student at Tehran University, was killed in a robbery near a campus dormitory on Wednesday, sparking protests on Friday. (Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)
SERBIA ROCKED BY ANTI-CORRUPTION PROTESTS AFTER CONSTRUCTION TRAGEDY
Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) wrote on X on Friday: “Salutes to the students of the University of Tehran who, in protest against the brutal murder of one of their peers, raised their voices with the powerful chant, ‘A student dies, but does not accept humiliation.’”
She added, “The perpetrators of this insecurity are either the Revolutionary Guards and suppressive forces themselves, or the result of the regime’s anti-people policies, which prioritize maintaining its power through the harshest oppression, with no regard for the safety or welfare of the people. I call on my fellow citizens to stand in solidarity with the students who today have declared that silence is no longer an option. Indeed, the university is the fortress of freedom and must fulfill its historic role.”
The protesters shouted things like “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!”(Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)
Protests ignited three years ago at universities across the country after a 22-year-old woman died in custody after she was detained for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly.
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The protests lasted for months, ending only after a security crackdown in which 500 people died and more than 22,000 were detained.
FIRST ON FOX: Europe must reinstate harsh United Nations sanctions on Iran, U.S. lawmakers insisted in a new resolution that accused Tehran of repeated violations of the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.
The bipartisan legislation calls on the U.K., France and Germany to invoke “snapback” sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council immediately – and follow the U.S.’s lead under President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” executive order to isolate Iran over its nuclear activity.
“Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and their actions have led to the murder of American servicemembers,” said Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., the number two Republican on Senate Foreign Relations Committee and lead sponsor of the bill, which has 11 cosponsors in the Senate.
“Iran’s possession of a nuclear weapon would threaten our security and the security of our allies. Snapback sanctions are key to ensuring that President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign is successful.”
IRAN’S COVERT NUCLEAR AGENCY FOUND OPERATING OUT OF TOP SPACE PROGRAM LAUNCH SITES
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the defense achievements exhibition in Tehran, Iran, February 12, 2025.(Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/ Handout via Reuters )
Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., issued companion legislation in the House.
Under the 2015 Iran deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran evaded U.N., U.S. and E.U. sanctions in exchange for promises not to pursue a nuclear weapon. But Iran eventually cut off independent inspectors’ access to its sites and resumed nuclear activities.
A “snapback” provision of the agreement said that any of the nations privy to the deal – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, U.S. or Germany – could demand the export controls, travel bans and asset freezes be reimposed.
But the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear deal entirely under President Donald Trump’s first administration and imposed its own “maximum pressure” sanctions regime. The Biden administration subsequently issued sanctions waivers and toyed with the idea of returning to a nuclear deal with Iran, but ultimately those efforts faltered.
Tenney urged the European nations to invoke the snapback sanctions before the deal expires in October 2025.
“Invoking snapback sanctions will restore all the UN sanctions on Iran that were lifted by the Obama administration’s failed Iran nuclear deal,” she said.
Iran is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, below the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon, according to U.N. nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi. Western states have said there is no civilian use for 60% uranium.
TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN
“Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and their actions have led to the murder of American servicemembers,” Senator Pete Ricketts, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee and lead sponsor of the bill, said.(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Britain, France and Germany told the U.N. Security Council in December they were ready to trigger the snapback of all international sanctions on Iran if necessary.
Trump himself said he was “torn” over a recent executive order that triggered harsh sanctions on Iran’s oil sector, adding that he was “unhappy to do it.”
“Hopefully, we’re not going to have to use it very much,” Trump told reporters.
But he reiterated, “We’re not going to let them get a nuclear weapon.”
Trump suggested first trying a “verified nuclear peace agreement” over military escalation. “I would much rather do a deal that’s not gonna hurt them,” the president told Fox News on Monday, adding that “I’d love to make a deal with them without bombing them.”
”No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,” said Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameni, citing past “experience.”
Iran viewed the president’s remarks as a threat and took negotiations off the table.
”No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,” said Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameni, citing past “experience.”
He called for the country to further develop its military capabilities.
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“We cannot be satisfied,” Khamenei said. “Say that we previously set a limit for the accuracy of our missiles, but we now feel this limit is no longer enough. We have to go forward.”
“Today, our defensive power is well known, our enemies are afraid of this. This is very important for our country,” he said.
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President Donald Trump’s revelation this week that he wants to negotiate with Iran raised eyebrows in the security sector. A former national security advisor cautioned the president against forming a Kim Jong Un-type relationship with the Ayatollah.
Trump has described his relations with Kim as a “love” affair, but his first-term efforts at diplomacy with the hermit kingdom failed to prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear program.
“On the question of negotiations, we’ll see where this goes,” said John Hannah, former national security advisor to Dick Cheney and current Randi & Charles Wax senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).
Hannah spoke Thursday evening during a discussion hosted by JINSA in Washington, D.C., on Trump’s new plans to start negotiations with Iran.
IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMIN WOULD NOT BE ‘WISE’
President Donald Trump walks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore in a photo released June 12, 2018, by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters )
“Trump and Kim Jong Un — that’s a worst-case [scenario] — he comes out hot and heavy against. He gets engaged and snared in a negotiation. He gets sweet talked to. It’s dragged out for the rest of his presidency,” Hannah said. “And we make absolutely zero progress on dismantling or neutralizing the North Korean nuclear program.
“That’s the nightmare.”
Trump’s decision to pursue negotiations with Iran to dismantle its nuclear program was announced by the president in a post Wednesday night on his Truth Social media platform, when he stated his desire for a “Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement.”
“We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed,” he wrote. “God Bless the Middle East!”
His post came one day after Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury Department to begin a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran through sanctions targeting the regime’s oil exports in a move to deter Tehran from continuing its nuclear development.
PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS ‘WE WILL HAVE RELATIONS WITH NORTH KOREA’; IT’S A ‘BIG ASSET’ THAT HE GETS ALONG WITH KIM
But, after the order, he told reporters he was “torn” about signing the directive and added he was “unhappy to do it.”
The Trump administration has not released details on who will lead these negotiations, how they will differ from the negotiations attempted by the Biden administration or what a new deal would include that wasn’t in the international deal reached during the Obama administration under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). That deal was finalized by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.
The so-called Iran nuclear deal, which Trump pulled out of in 2018, was also signed onto by Germany and the European Union.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has analyzed where Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is located as Israel mulls a retaliatory attack.(Foundation for Defense of Democracies)
Hannah said Trump’s change in tune on securing a nuclear deal with Iran could be a negotiating tactic, though he warned that “25 years of negotiations with the Iranians on the nuclear program have led nowhere except an Iran right on the cusp of having nuclear weapons.”
The former national security advisor, along with the former special representative for Iran and Venezuela Ambassador Elliott Abrams, together warned that the Trump administration is facing a serious deadline when it comes to taking on negotiations with Iran.
Come October, Russia, a top ally to Iran, will take on the lead role of the United Nations Security Council, filling the presidency for one month, which could pose its own security concerns.
TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN
But there is another October deadline looming over international attempts to block Iran’s nuclear development. The ability for the nations remaining in the JCPOA to apply “snapback” sanctions on Tehran will expire Oct. 18, 2025.
“There have to be negotiation discussions between Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu on how long are we going to wait to see this negotiation drag on,” Abrams said, referring to the years-long talks by the Biden administration that proved fruitless.
“I’m sure the Iranians will say if you impose snapback [sanctions] the negotiations are over, and we will leave the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.”
Iran, particularly in recent years, has been found to have repeatedly violated the treaty, though proponents of a nuclear deal argue it is a useful tool to keep Tehran involved in nuclear nonproliferation discussions.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Donald Trump. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA; Handout via Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo)
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But Abrams also warned that the U.S. and Israel should engage in military drills to remind Iran of what it is potentially facing should it move forward with nuclear development.
Retired Israel Defense Forces Major General Yaakov Amidror echoed this sentiment and said he believes it is unlikely that Iran completely ignores the threat of U.S.-Israeli strike force capabilities because it relies on the legitimate aspects of this nuclear program for economic stability.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday rejected the possibility of engaging in any future negotiations with the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump’s decision to cut foreign aid funding could strengthen the president’s bargaining position as he looks to contain Iran.
“I look at the USAID cutoff and the praise that the Iranians have given as part of President Trump’s negotiating skills,” EJ Kimball, director of Policy & Strategic Operations at the U.S. Israel Education Association, told Fox News Digital.
The comments come after Trump’s controversial decision to halt funding for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and send most of the employees of USAID packing, part of the administration’s plan to weed out what it considers wasteful government spending.
Despite the controversy, the decision has received praise from the Iranian regime, who have traditionally viewed U.S. aid to Iran as a threat to the country’s government.
IRAN’S WEAKENED POSITION COULD LEAD IT TO PURSUE NUCLEAR WEAPON, BIDEN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER WARNS
Iran’s Supreme ruler Ali Khamenei, left, and President Donald Trump.(AP)
According to a report from The Associated Press on Wednesday, Trump’s move has been “lauded” in Iranian state media, who view the cuts to foreign aid as a blow to pro-democracy activists Iran believes have benefited from U.S. foreign aid.
The favorable perception of Trump’s move by Iran comes at a critical time, with Trump recently renewing the U.S.’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran and reaffirming the U.S. position that Iran can never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
While Trump has used harsh rhetoric on Iran in recent days, including a vow to “obliterate” the country if it successfully carries out an alleged plot to assassinate him, the president has also urged the regime to begin negotiating for a “nuclear peace agreement” with the United States.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon. Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Trump wrote in a post on social media Wednesday.
President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida.(Evan Vucci/AP)
TRUMP’S LATEST HIRES AND FIRES RANKLE IRAN HAWKS AS NEW PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NUCLEAR DEAL
Kimball believes Trump can use the cuts to foreign aid as a bargaining chip in those potential negotiations, noting the president could change his mind and resume the funding if the Iranians fail to reach an acceptable deal.
“I would say that he’s teasing the Iranians at the moment, knowing that really at any moment’s notice, he could immediately turn back on the spigot of funding to the opposition groups if he doesn’t feel like they’re acquiescing to his demands or negotiation,” Kimball said.
“It seems to me that he’s got a carrot-and-stick approach with the Iranian regime, and pausing funding for regime critics, teasing a deal, but also threatening sanctions, and talking to Israel about a military strike and how Iran will not get nuclear weapons is part of his master negotiating skills to keep his opponents off balance,” Kimball added.
A big banner depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is placed next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 26, 2024.(Photo by Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)
In the end, Kimball believes Trump’s ultimate goal is to cut a deal that would eliminate Iran’s nuclear program without putting U.S. service members in harm’s way in another overseas conflict.
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“It’s been very clear he does not want to send U.S. troops to war, but he’s also not going to be soft about it and allow the taking of a bad deal to avoid war,” Kimball said. “The end goal for President Trump is a deal that removes the threat that Iran poses to the United States, to Israel, to the region, and really to the entire world, not just in their nuclear program, but in their ballistic missile development and delivery systems to ensure that Iran can be great again.”
Michael Lee is a writer for Fox News. Prior to joining Fox News, Michael worked for the Washington Examiner, Bongino.com, and Unbiased America. He has covered politics for more than eight years.
President Donald Trump urged Iran to begin negotiating with the U.S. for a “nuclear peace agreement,” downplaying the possibility of a devastating military strike on the Islamic nation.
Trump made the statement on social media Wednesday morning, reaffirming the U.S. position that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon. It comes just one day after Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon. Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Trump wrote.
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper. We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed. God Bless the Middle East!” he added.
IRAN ‘TERRIFIED’ OF TRUMP PRESIDENCY AS IRANIAN CURRENCY FALLS TO AN ALL-TIME LOW
President Donald Trump gives his second presidential inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2024.(Fox News)
INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS IRAN WILL KEEP TRYING TO KILL TRUMP REGARDLESS OF ELECTION OUTCOME
The call for negotiations comes after Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday night by saying the U.S. will “take over” control of the Gaza Strip.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump stated. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.”
Netanyahu praised Trump’s ability to “think outside the box” during their joint press conference.
President Donald Trump called on Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to begin nuclear deal negotiations.(Photo by Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Hamas also wrote a statement criticizing Trump’s comments just hours after his meeting with Netanyahu.
“We reject Trump’s statements in which he said that the residents of the Gaza Strip have no choice but to leave, and we consider them a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region,” the group said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, praised President Donald Trump’s ability to “think outside the box” regarding a U.S. takeover of Gaza.( REUTERS/Leah Millis)
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Hamas has recently reaffirmed control over the Gaza Strip following the start of the ceasefire and has said they will not release hostages without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday if Iran carries out his assassination, advisers will ensure that country is “obliterated.”
While signing an executive order imposing maximum pressure on Tehran, the president said he left instructions if something were to happen to him.
“That would be a terrible thing for them to do,” Trump said. “If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. … There won’t be anything left.”
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
IRAN ‘TERRIFIED’ OF TRUMP PRESIDENCY AS IRANIAN CURRENCY FALLS TO AN ALL-TIME LOW
The president said former President Joe Biden “should have said that,” but did not, due to a “lack of intelligence.”
The Justice Department confirmed in November it thwarted an Iranian plot to kill Trump in the weeks leading up to the presidential election.
A criminal complaint filed in September noted an official in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps asked Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, to “focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating” Trump.
Shakeri immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported about 17 years ago after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction, according to the DOJ.
INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS IRAN WILL KEEP TRYING TO KILL TRUMP REGARDLESS OF ELECTION OUTCOME
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
He was allegedly tasked on Oct. 7, 2024 with providing a plan to kill Trump, according to authorities.
Shakeri has not yet been apprehended and is believed to be living in Iran, according to the DOJ.
“I’m signing this, and it’s a very powerful document, but hopefully we’re not going to have to use it,” Trump said on Tuesday.
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Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this story.
Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.
President Donald Trump unveiled an executive order reinstating a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran on Tuesday, coinciding with a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.
Trump voiced that he was “torn” on signing the order and admitted he was “unhappy to do it,” noting that that the executive order was very tough on Iran.
“Hopefully, we’re not going to have to use it very much,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.
The order instructs the Treasury Department to execute “maximum economic pressure” upon Iran through a series of sanctions aimed at sinking Iran’s oil exports.
His first administration also adopted a “maximum pressure” initiative against Tehran, issuing greater sanctions and harsher enforcement for violations.
TRUMP’S LATEST HIRES AND FIRES RANKLE IRAN HAWKS AS NEW PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NUCLEAR DEAL
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with advisers ahead of his meeting with President Trump on Tuesday, February 4th, 2025.(GPO)
Lawmakers are also interested in exerting more pressure on Iran. For example, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John Fetterman, D-Penn., along with lawmakers in the House, introduced a resolution on Thursday that affirms that all options should remain on the table in dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat.
Graham said in a statement Thursday that should Iran obtain a nuclear weapon, it would prove “one of the most destabilizing and dangerous events in world history.”
Additionally, Graham said ahead of Netanyahu’s visit that the moment is right to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat now, and that the U.S. should back Israel if it chooses to “decimate” Iran’s nuclear program.
IRAN’S WEAKENED POSITION COULD LEAD IT TO PURSUE NUCLEAR WEAPON, BIDEN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER WARNS
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 31, 2024 in Washington, DC..(Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“Israel is strong. Iran is weak. Hezbollah, Hamas have been decimated,” Graham said in an interview with Fox News Sunday. “They’re not finished off, but they’ve been weakened. And there’s an opportunity to hit the Iran nuclear program in a fashion I haven’t seen in decades. And I think it would be in the world’s interest for us to decimate the Iranian nuclear threat while we can. If we don’t, we will regret it later.”
Strict sanctions were reimposed upon Iran after Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018. The 2015 agreement brokered under the Obama administration had lifted sanctions on Iran, in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Trump signaled in January some optimism about securing a nuclear deal with Iran, when asked if he backed Israel striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
TRUMP’S NEW UKRAINE ENVOY ISSUES WARNING TO IRAN, SAYS ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE MUST BE REINSTATED’
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they pose for a photo within their meeting at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on July 26, 2024. (Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO) / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“We’ll have to see. I’m going to be meeting with various people over the next couple of days,” Trump told reporters on Jan. 24. “We’ll see, but hopefully that could be worked out without having to worry about it.”
“Iran hopefully will make a deal. I mean, they don’t make a deal, I guess that’s OK, too,” Trump said.
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Other executive orders that Trump signed on Tuesday include pulling the U.S. out of the United Nations Human Rights Council and cutting funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
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TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday is geared toward bolstering ties with and securing guarantees from the Trump administration primarily over Iran and the war against Hamas, according to current and former Israeli officials.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s historic visit to Washington will mark a significant moment in Israel-U.S. relations, setting a tone of close cooperation and friendship between the Israeli government and the Trump administration,” Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter told Fox News Digital.
“The prime minister will be the first foreign leader to visit the White House in President Trump’s second term, and his visit will spur bilateral efforts to promote security and prosperity in the U.S., Israel and the Middle East,” he added.
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Benjamin Netanyahu leaves Israel for a meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., February 2025.
Leiter, appearing on “America’s Newsroom” last week, told Dana Perino that Iran would be front and center during the Trump-Netanyahu meeting. “We will make the point that to allow Tehran to maintain its nuclear capabilities, which they can raise very quickly toward nuclear weapons, is simply unacceptable,” he stated.
Netanyahu was last at the White House on July 25, 2024, with then-President Biden having only invited the Israeli leader some 20 months after his re-election. This was widely viewed as a snub by Biden, whose party has increasingly distanced itself from traditional bipartisan support for the Jewish state.
Netanyahu told reporters ahead of his departure that it was “telling” Trump chose to meet him first, describing it as “a testimony to the strength of the American-Israeli alliance.”
Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters ahead of his departure that it was “telling” Trump chose to meet him first.(Prime Minister’s Office)
“This meeting will deal with important issues, critical issues facing Israel and our region, victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis and all its components – an axis that threatens the peace of Israel, the Middle East and the entire world,” he said.
There are currently 79 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including six dual US-Israeli citizens. “Regarding agenda terms, Trump will want Netanyahu to proceed to the second phase of the truce agreement with Hamas. This is very difficult for Israel, since this basically leaves the terror group in power in Gaza,” former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told Fox News Digital.
Former President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting at Mar-a-Lago estate, in Palm Beach, Florida, on July 26, 2024.(Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
While Trump has said he was “not confident” the ceasefire deal would hold, his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff visited Israel last week and reportedly pushed for the implementation of all three phases. According to Netanyahu, Trump has committed to supporting the resumption of the war if negotiations with Hamas prove “futile.”
“There may also be discussion about the future of the Palestinian issue and ways in which the Trump peace plan unveiled during his first term can be revived, as well as how a normalization push between Israel and Saudi Arabia can be concluded,” Oren said. “I think the major pressure point would be the ‘P’ word, which refers to the Saudis insisting on a pathway to Palestinian statehood. Parts of Netanyahu’s coalition and even some within his own party will not discuss the ‘P’ word.”
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The families of the four released hostages reunite with their daughters on Jan. 25, 2025.(IDF Spokesman’ Unit)
On this point, the two leaders may be aligned, with Trump insisting that Gaza be rebuilt “in a different way.” He also indicated his desire to relocate Gazans to Arab countries. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out [Gaza] and say, ‘You know, it’s over,’” he said.
During his first term, Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, which was orchestrated by the Obama administration. However, the Biden administration undid most of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran – consisting primarily of crippling sanctions – by rehashing many Obama-era policies.
“I believe that Trump is prepared to immediately snap back paralyzing sanctions and issue a credible military threat to bring Iran back to the negotiating table for an agreement on its nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile testing and terror financing,” Danny Ayalon, former Israeli deputy foreign minister and ambassador to the U.S., told Fox News Digital.
“If not, the Iranians will be subject to a major operation that may be through an American-led coalition or different structures with or without Israel,” he added, while referencing an Axios report last month that the U.S. president might “either support an Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities… or even order a U.S. strike.” However, Ayalon said Trump will express a preference for a diplomatic solution, possibly placing him at odds with Netanyahu.
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Hamas terrorists watch on as four hostages are released to the Red Cross as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.(TPS-IL)
Ayalon also noted Netanyahu’s appreciation for Trump’s initiative to punish the International Criminal Court, which in November issued arrest warrants for the Israeli premier and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the prosecution of the war against Hamas, while suggesting that normalization between Jerusalem and Riyadh would be raised as part of a broader effort to reshape the Middle East.
“A potential economic corridor from Asia to Europe through Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, maybe even the Palestinian Authority, works very well with Trump’s agenda of countering aggressive Chinese expansionism through the Belt and Road Initiative,” Ayalon said.
Other agenda items might include a possible U.S.-backed push to apply Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank, also known by Israel as Judea and Samaria – a prospect Netanyahu shelved during Trump’s first term in favor of forging the Abraham Accords – and expanding overall defense ties, including by advancing the American president’s goal of developing an Iron Dome-like missile shield for the United States.
“It is very different from the Biden administration. Of course, it is more aggressive but that’s only part of it. Trump sees the problem of Gaza in a wider perspective” that includes the Saudis, Qataris, Egyptians and other regional players, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Hannan Gefen, the former commander of IDF’s elite Unit 8200, told Fox News Digital.
“Trump, in his second term, is repeating his willingness to withdraw from the Kurdish-controlled northeastern part of Syria, which may contrast with Israel’s interest,” he explained. “In Lebanon, there might be a disagreement if Israel sees Hezbollah [violating the ceasefire and] regaining power, and wants to strike terror bases. Regarding the Houthis in Yemen, Israel and the Saudis will try to direct Trump’s policy to be more assertive than Biden was toward the Iranian proxy.”
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Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern city of Rafah on May 9.(AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
While any gaps between the sides will be overshadowed by the pomp and circumstance accompanying a visit by Netanyahu to D.C., Likud lawmaker Boaz Bismuth told Fox News Digital that the prime minister “won’t make any concessions on issues that relate to Israel’s national security.
“Our national interests come above all else – the state has an obligation toward its civilians and the right to defend itself,” Bismuth said. “Fortunately, Trump has a thriving relationship with Israel and is a great friend of ours.”
