By our correspondent
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to orchestrate a popular uprising in Iran, according to an American news website. Netanyahu had suggested last week that the Iranian populace could be brought onto the streets, arguing that the Iranian government is already in disarray and that there exists an opportunity to further destabilize the regime.
Trump responded to Netanyahu by questioning why people should be called into the streets, adding that they would be killed. The US president has avoided making regime change in Iran an immediate objective, preferring to keep diplomatic avenues open despite ongoing military operations that began on February 28.
Meanwhile, the United States and Israel have temporarily removed two senior Iranian officials—Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliamentary Speaker Baqer Qalibaf—from their target lists. According to an American magazine, US officials stated that the two figures have been taken off the target list for four or five days as President Trump has opened the door to high-level negotiations aimed at ending the war. The move signals a potential shift toward diplomacy even as the conflict continues to exact heavy tolls across the region.
