【Text/Observer Network Qi Qian】
U.S. President Donald Trump, now in France, continues to blast Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to reports from Britain's The Daily Telegraph and The Times of Israel, on June 16 local time, Trump met with Qatari Emir Tamim during the G7 summit in France. At the meeting, he said, "Without America, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president would do what I did."
Trump also bluntly said, "If I hadn't intervened, Israel would have been wiped off the face of the earth long ago, 100 percent."
Trump urged Netanyahu to exercise restraint on the Lebanon issue. He said, "I have a good relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi must be more responsible on Lebanon... Lebanon was once a great country, a country with professors, doctors, lawyers. Lebanon once had great wisdom. But now it's a mess."
When asked about Israel's refusal to withdraw from Lebanon, Trump added, "The war has gone on too long, and too many people have died. You don't have to take down an apartment building every time you go after a target, because those apartment buildings have a lot of people in them, and they're not all Hezbollah."
On the 16th, Trump met with the Qatari Emir in France (White House X account)
He also mentioned Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Shara, hinting that Syria should "deal with" Lebanon's Hezbollah.
"I'm very unhappy with the way Israel has handled the Lebanon and Hezbollah issue," Trump then reiterated, "They could have finished the job faster, and now it's dragging on. This situation will cast a shadow over this major agreement with Iran."
He said he "didn't like" Israel's attack on Beirut, Lebanon last Sunday, at a time when U.S.-Iran negotiations were about to make a breakthrough.
Additionally, Trump reiterated that the U.S. will not invest in Iran. Earlier reports suggested that if Iran gives up its enriched uranium stockpile, it could receive a $300 billion reconstruction fund from the U.S.
"I never care about regime change; that has never been important," Trump added, "I don't believe in regime change; I've watched regime change for years, and they never work." However, Trump has ordered the killing of several senior Iranian leaders and said in February this year that regime change would be "the best thing that could happen" to Iran, adding that he already had a replacement in mind.
In recent weeks, Trump's criticism of Netanyahu has increased.
The above remarks are the latest in a series of Trump attacks on Netanyahu. Last Sunday, after the Israeli Defense Forces attacked Lebanon and threatened U.S.-Iran negotiations, Trump reportedly swore over the phone, accusing Netanyahu of "having no sense of right and wrong."
"He's a very tough guy," Trump said of Netanyahu on the same day, "Honestly, he should be very grateful that we did this. Because if Iran had nuclear weapons, Israel wouldn't last two hours."
On June 15 Beijing time, the United States, Iran, and Pakistan, the mediator of U.S.-Iran negotiations, confirmed successively that the two sides had reached a first-stage memorandum of understanding, which is scheduled to be signed in Geneva, Switzerland on the 19th local time.
Israel reacted strongly to the peace agreement. Subsequently, Netanyahu insisted that the Israeli Defense Forces would not withdraw from Lebanon. Israeli media also reported that Israel had requested to review the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding but was rejected by the U.S.
But U.S. Vice President Vance said the other day that he believes Israel will join the U.S.-Iran agreement in the future, adding that the first-stage memorandum of understanding is "only about a page and a half, a very general document," with many details left for the next stage of negotiations.
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