00:00So expand the talks further.
00:02That is the expected call from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
00:06as he arrives at the White House later with an urgent message for Donald Trump.
00:10As Trump's team continues to work on a nuclear deal with Iran,
00:13Israel continuing its long calls for Iran to cease all uranium enrichment,
00:19dial back its ballistic missile programme and cut ties to militant groups across the region,
00:24all moves that Iran has always rejected.
00:27Just hearing, in fact, in the last few moments from Iran's president saying he will not give in
00:31to excessive demands on the nuclear programme.
00:34Unclear if Trump will listen, though, as he continues to sound optimistic that a deal can be done.
00:42I think they'll want to make a deal. I think it'd be foolish if they didn't.
00:46We took out their nuclear power last time and we'll have to see if we take out more this time.
00:50It'd be a good deal. No nuclear weapons, no missiles, no this, no that.
00:54All the different things that you want.
00:57But some people worry that they've been very dishonest with us over the years, right?
01:02Very dishonest. Obama and Biden, what they did in terms of creating a monster with Iran was terrible.
01:11That Iran nuclear deal was one of the dumbest deals I've ever seen.
01:15Donald Trump there with Philip Taylor, international affairs editors with me.
01:19Philip, Netanyahu then pushing for this much more aggressive approach.
01:23How might that go down?
01:24It's difficult to say, but there is a big gap between what the two men want.
01:30There are some parts of this that they both agree on, but quite large parts which they don't agree on.
01:37Basically, what Donald Trump wants in these talks with the Iranians right now is a deal on reducing the nuclear
01:43program.
01:44I think there's no problem between Israel and the United States on that.
01:49They also want to limit to end Iran's ballistic missile capacity.
01:53Figures show that between 1,500 and 2,000 ballistic missiles are being held by Iran right now.
02:02And it has a capacity to produce about 200 missiles a month.
02:06So the United States and Israel want an end to that.
02:09And also both sides want an end for support by Iran for its proxies, notably Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen
02:16and, of course, Hamas.
02:18But Iran is not in agreement with those demands.
02:21They say there are red lines.
02:22They want to carry on refining uranium for their nuclear program.
02:27And they're not interested in talking about the other two items on the agenda there.
02:31So it's difficult to know how those talks are going to work out.
02:33What Iran is fearing, I think, is the fact that there could be more military activity.
02:40But it says the military deployment is not scaring them.
02:44And the secret behind the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran resides in its capacity to resist intimidation, domination
02:49and pressure from others.
02:51This is exactly what is scaring Israel.
02:54What Benjamin Netanyahu wants Donald Trump to do is to hit Iran militarily.
02:59They're saying, well, there's this huge armada which is parked outside Iran.
03:02What on earth is it there for if Donald Trump has just run the negotiating table with the Iranians and
03:08that armada is not being used for anything?
03:09The only way the Islamic Republic is going to be forced to come to the negotiating table and to agree
03:16what we want is if you hit it militarily.
03:18And it's got to be knocked out in the region of any of the threats it has to fire missiles
03:23into Tel Aviv.
03:251,588 kilometers is the distance between Tehran and Tel Aviv.
03:29And it's been worked out that if Tehran were to fire a missile, it would arrive in about 12 minutes.
03:34That is something that for the Israelis is unacceptable.
03:37That's why they want Donald Trump to be much firmer.
03:39Donald Trump is saying, well, if I hit militarily Iran, that will upset the regional balance.
03:47Other countries there have told me not to do that.
03:49Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others, because they're scared there will be a fallout on their countries from Iran.
03:54And also there will be hits against U.S. bases in the region.
03:57That's why he's gone to the negotiating table to talk to the Iranians.
04:01But Donald Trump has not respected the red lines that he laid down originally, which were that he was going
04:07to intervene if there was an attack against the Iranian people during that bloody clampdown where at least 30,000
04:15people lost their lives.
04:17That went by with nothing happening from the United States.
04:19And I think there is a feeling that Donald Trump has really not given any support to the Iranian people
04:24at all.
04:25It's not just about Iran, is it?
04:27There's also the future of Gaza.
04:29It's the first meeting next week due of Donald Trump's Board of Peace.
04:33Netanyahu may well or may well not be coming back for that.
04:35Well, it looks like he's going to go back.
04:38This visit to Washington now, it was unscheduled.
04:43But I think he wants to certainly try to push Donald Trump to be much more hard lined with the
04:48Iranians.
04:49So he will be going back for this meeting of the Board of Peace, which is due to start on
04:53the 19th of February in Washington.
04:56Netanyahu is going to go back on the 18th.
04:58It looks like he might go back now on the 19th.
05:00But there are 26 other countries in the Board of Peace that have also been invited to these talks.
05:03Basically, this is the 20-point peace plan put forward by Donald Trump for the Gaza Strip.
05:10What this conference is probably seeking to do is to raise funds for the reconstruction of Gaza.
05:16Several billion dollars are going to be needed to do that.
05:19That's why some of the countries taking part are being asked to get their checkbooks out.
05:23But there is a lot of reluctance about this because there is insecurity about whether or not this is a
05:28long-term process that's going to work out.
05:30Their scepticism Hamas will disarm.
05:33Many countries are very hesitant to get involved because they're not sure where this is all going to work out.
05:38Will the war start all over again if Hamas doesn't play along?
05:42And there's a refusal by the Israelis to accept a future Palestinian statehood.
05:49So we'll have to see how these talks work out.
05:53But I think one of the things that will be discussed is disarmament, first of all, on heavier weapons.
05:59And then secondly, on people who own weapons amongst Palestinians or Hamas.
06:05They will be encouraged to hand those weapons over in exchange for money or in exchange for jobs or in
06:10exchange for an amnesty.
06:12This is something, unfortunately, that Israel is unlikely to back because they say it's a too long-term process.
06:18So a lot of differences that need to be worked out before this peace process really is up and running
06:24in the Gaza Strip.
06:25And yet another potential sticking point.
06:26This is over at the West Bank.
06:28Donald Trump has said he will not allow Israel to annex the territory, which, of course, is occupied since 1967.
06:35Big row going on over this as well.
06:37Yeah, this is something that Donald Trump has said, that he will not allow Israel to take over the West
06:41Bank.
06:42It looks like Israel is moving towards this.
06:46The fact is that they have talked about introducing new measures, which basically boils down to a land grab and
06:54the de facto annexation of the West Bank.
06:56It means that from now onwards, a decades-old ban on the direct sale of West Bank land to Israelis
07:05is going to be torn up,
07:06which means they can just go in there and buy land and build a Jewish settlement if they want.
07:11And they will also declassify the local land registry records.
07:16So that will open the door to many more settlements being built in the West Bank.
07:22We've had the biggest number of settlements being built over the last couple of years, since these settlements first went
07:29up after the Six-Day War in 1967.
07:32And there's been a statement from the Israeli finance minister, the far-right finance minister, Betseller Smotrich, who has basically
07:41made it pretty clear what he wants.
07:43He's just been saying, well, we will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state, which is not going
07:48to go down very well with Donald Trump.
07:49What Benjamin Netanyahu wants to achieve also during this visit to Washington is Donald Trump backing him to get him
07:58off the hook as far as any potential hearings are concerned into his illegal goings-on and bribery and corruption
08:04charges.
08:05With what has been going on recently with Benjamin Netanyahu, the annexation of the West Bank, the Gaza peace process,
08:13and the sluggish response to that,
08:15there's going to be a difference between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
08:18It's going to be quite easy to, quite interesting to see how this is going to work out.
08:22But I think that also explains why Benjamin Netanyahu has gone on a plane to go and see Donald Trump
08:26right now,
08:27and not wait for this meeting of the Board of Peace, which is due to take place from the 19th
08:33of February.
Comments