Trump, Netanyahu Split on Gas Attacks  03/20 06:25

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu 's diverging language on Israel's decision to attack a 
critical Iranian gas field marks the most notable difference of opinion between 
the two leaders since the start of the 20-day war against Iran.

   The attack by Israel on the South Pars gas field prompted Iran to retaliate 
against energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries. The Iranian 
strikes led to already elevated global energy prices further surging and 
spurred Gulf allies to call for Trump to rein in Netanyahu.

   The aftermath of the strike left Trump and Netanyahu facing questions on 
whether they're entirely in sync in prosecuting the war that began as a closely 
coordinated joint attack on the longtime regional foe. The emergence of 
daylight -- or at least the appearance of it -- between the two leaders could 
shape the balance of the conflict and any eventual endgame.

   Trump, during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae 
Takaichi, told reporters that he neither agreed with nor approved of Israel's 
attack on the world's largest gas field, which is an energy lifeline for Iran.

   "I told him, 'Don't do that,'" Trump said of Netanyahu's decision to strike. 
"We get along great. It's coordinated, but on occasion he'll do something. And 
if I don't like it -- and so we're not doing that anymore."

   Netanyahu said that Israel "acted alone" and that he's agreed to Trump's 
request that Israel hold off on any further attack on Iran's giant gas field. 
The prime minister also sought to downplay any space between him and Trump.

   "It's been said that for 40 years I've been saying that Iran is a danger to 
Israel and a danger to the world. That is true," Netanyahu said at a news 
conference in Jerusalem. "You know who else said that? President Trump."

   Netanyahu later added: "Look, I don't think any two leaders have been as 
coordinated as President Trump and I. He's the leader. I'm his ally. America is 
the leader."

   Trump's first public reaction to Wednesday's strike on the Iranian gas field 
came several hours afterward in a fiery social media post where he also 
declared the U.S. "knew nothing" about the attack before it was carried out.

   Two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment 
publicly said the U.S. was made aware of Israel's plan ahead of the attack. The 
people were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of 
anonymity. One of the people said Israel's targets are being coordinated with 
the U.S.

   US intel chief says US, Israel have different objectives

   Top U.S. administration officials on Thursday made the case that Trump is 
simpatico with Netanyahu, but is ultimately guided in his Iran strategy by what 
he believes is in the U.S. national security interest.

   The U.S. air campaign has focused on decimating Iran's missile program, 
pummeling its already beleaguered nuclear program and destroying its navy. 
Israel, meanwhile, has carried out one high-level assassination after another 
as it looks to topple the Islamic authority that has led the country since 1979.

   The prime minister has framed the moment as an opportunity to usher in a new 
era in the Middle East -- one in which the government in Tehran is run by a 
more moderate leadership that is not hostile to Israel.

   Netanyahu is buoyed by an Israeli public that is far more supportive of the 
war than the American public. That gives him the political leeway to support a 
sustained operation that could deliver a decisive blow to Iran's clerical rule.

   Though Trump has offered shifting, myriad reasons for the conflict, he's 
consistently articulated that ensuring that Iran "never has a nuclear weapon" 
is his primary objective.

   "The objectives that have been laid out by the president are different from 
the objectives that have been laid out by the Israeli government," Director of 
National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard noted to House intelligence committee 
members on Thursday, when asked during a hearing about the White House position 
on the gas field strike.

   Trump's evolving goals for war

   Trump, in contrast with Netanyahu, has cooled on the prospects of toppling 
Iran's clerical authority and paving the way for a more moderate government.

   It's been a significant evolution for the president from the start of the 
U.S. and Israeli bombardment, when he confidently told Iranians that they would 
soon have an opportunity to rid themselves from the clerical rule of the past 
47 years.

   But in a Fox News Radio interview last week, Trump was far more measured 
about the pathway ahead for opponents of the Islamic government and expressed 
concerns about the paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in 
crushing recent nationwide protests, maintaining its grip as a menacing force 
in Iran.

   "So, I really think that's a big hurdle to climb for people that don't have 
weapons. I think it's a very big hurdle," Trump said.

   Asked by host Brian Kilmeade if he agreed with Netanyahu's calls for 
Iranians to take back their country, Trump made clear he didn't think they were 
ready to rise up. "I would think that Bibi would understand that too," Trump 
added.

   Over the course of Trump's five years in the White House, Netanyahu has 
arguably been his most steadfast ally among foreign leaders. The Israeli 
leader, for his part, never misses an opportunity to gush that the Jewish state 
has never had a more reliable friend in the White House.

   But over the last three weeks, Trump and aides have acknowledged the two 
countries come at the war differently. And Trump has said those differences are 
natural.

   "You know, they're there, and we're very far away," Trump noted.

   In the big picture, differences between Trump and Netanyahu are so far 
largely superficial, said Joel Rubin, a former State Department official in the 
Obama administration.

   The Israeli prime minister has "been trying to figure out how to get 
American support for many decades" to get behind his push for decapitating 
strikes on Iran. Trump, Rubin added, is "the first president to say, 'Go for 
it!'"

   Still, the longer the war goes on, the more pressure Trump could face 
politically and the more rifts could form, Rubin said.

   "When the war ends it's likely gonna be Trump's call and I do think that 
we're probably gonna have a dynamic where, in the future, they'll have to 
figure out how to be in sync in terms of identifying and defining when it's 
time to end the military operation," Rubin said of Trump and Netanyahu. "And 
Israel does not have the same focus on global oil markets as the U.S., and the 
repercussions."