Donald Trump dispels Netanyahu fight rumors as he | Political News

President Donald Trump on Sunday tried to skirt a query about Israel’s involvement in U.S. efforts to wrest the Strait of Hormuz from Iran’s control, opting instead to focus on the “fake news media” and his “extraordinary” relationship with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.

“What’s Israel doing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz?” a reporter requested the president, according to audio of the exchange broadcast by News Nation. “They’re doing, they’re working with us,” Trump said, before veering off.

He claimed the media had falsely reported on hypothesis that Trump and Netanyahu had an argument, saying that, in fact, Netanyahu “would tell you we’re leading the whole thing.” His relationship with Netanyahu is “extraordinary actually,” he added.

Reporters on Sunday had been left without solutions as to Israel’s involvement in Trump’s efforts to rally allies to America’s aspect as the president seeks to reopen the essential transport lane between the Persian Gulf and the open ocean.

Iran’s efficient blocking of the strait has pressured global price surges in oil, as the channel sometimes hosts ships carrying about a fifth of the world’s oil provide each day. But as Trump’s warfare with Israel against Iran passes the three-week mark, Iran has restricted more than 90% of the crude and refined merchandise, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The only power they have, and it’s a power that can be closed off relatively quickly, is the power of dropping a mine or shooting a relatively short-range missile,” Trump claimed on Saturday, according to NBC. “But when we get finished with the shoreline, they’re not going to have that power either.”

But with only vague or contradictory statements from the Trump administration to go on over when the war will conclude, U.S. partners and adversaries alike are unable to predict the ways in which their involvement could impact things at home. Even as Trump called on European and Gulf allies in recent days to help reopen the strait, those requests largely have been met with radio silence.

In a post on his Truth Social media account, Trump called on the United Kingdom, China, Japan, France, South Korea and other nations to ship warships to the strait even as it’s being violently guarded by Iran. “Many countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz strait, will be sending war ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the strait open and safe,” the president claimed.

But the response from the countries so far has been reluctant and noncommittal. As Trump and his staff oscillate between claiming total and immediate victory in their quest with Israel to dominate the Middle East nation and asking global allies for critical assistance, many leaders have proved unwilling to risk their navies.

Trump’s seeming reluctance to comment on Israel’s own role in the strait closure comes after The New York Times and others reported that Netanyahu recently visited the White House with the intent of keeping the president on the path to war with Iran.

Their nearly three-hour meeting in the Oval Office in February came after the U.S. had begun negotiating with Iran over the future of its nuclear program, The Times reported. But “the Israeli leader wanted to make sure that the new diplomatic effort did not undermine the plans.”

Trump said days later that he was skeptical of the diplomatic efforts and that a regime change “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.”

It was not clear which media reports Trump claimed on Sunday had referenced a fight between him and Netanyahu.

But his attack on the legitimacy of media networks not owned or controlled by his allies follows similarly aggressive remarks by his Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, who on Saturday threatened the U.S. broadcasting industry over what he claimed were “hoaxes and news distortions.”

Networks working “pretend news – have a likelihood now to appropriate course before their license renewals come up. The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public curiosity, and they’ll lose their licenses if they don’t,” Carr wrote on social media.

Trump, answering reporters’ questions during Sunday’s flight to Washington, said Iran “is known for a lot of fake news” and claimed without proof that U.S. television networks are working with Iran to broadcast that material.

“It’s a very dangerous thing for our country,” Trump said.

He said the broadcasters “could be in serious jeopardy.”