Netanyahu says no diplomatic deal possible with Iran 'savages'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to cast his ballot at his party Likud's main polling station during primary elections ahead of Israel’s general election in October in Jerusalem on August 17, 2026. [AFP]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a diplomatic deal was not possible with the "savages" who rule Iran as he hailed US President Donald Trump's new campaign of economic pressure.

Recounting a recent meeting with Trump, Netanyahu said they had discussed the possibility of diplomacy with the Islamic republic and added: "I doubt, however, that an agreement can be reached with that group there, with those savages.

"I tell you -- an agreement cannot be reached," Netanyahu said late Tuesday at an event in Jerusalem for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu has long been sceptical of diplomacy with Iran, openly campaigning against a 2015 nuclear deal brokered by then US president Barack Obama, but he has been publicly careful not to criticise Trump who has also sought a negotiated settlement.

Trump joined Netanyahu in a US-Israeli joint attack on Iran in late February but agreed to a ceasefire in April in the face of widespread US public opposition to the war, which had sent oil prices spiralling.

Trump on Monday declared "economic D-Day" aimed at destroying Iran's economy, which has already endured years of sanctions, but he has shown reluctance to resume a full-scale war even as he grows frustrated that Tehran will not accept his demands.

Netanyahu, who is trailing in some polls ahead of October 27 elections, voiced support for Trump's economic pressure campaign and took a degree of ownership, saying he told Trump of this "third option".

He praised the US president for pursuing the economic path in "a very, very, very strong way".

Trump had chosen to target not just Iran itself but decided on "tightening the siege on those who assist this regime, this terrible dictatorship. This is very important," Netanyahu said.

Warning Iran against new strike

The Israeli leader had pushed for years for a US attack on Iran, whose Shia cleric-run state supports anti-Israel armed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which led the devastating October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Netanyahu met Trump at the White House on July 28. In his remarks on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that the two also discussed renewing military action against Iran.

"I told him: We are there, we will defend ourselves, and we will not allow Iran to attack us," Netanyahu said.

"And if, God forbid, they attack us, they will suffer a blow they never dreamed of -- much stronger than anything they have suffered so far," he said.

The war has become even more personal for Netanyahu as he revealed Monday that Iran tried to kill one of his sons.

He did not give further details. The US news channel Newsmax, quoting an anonymous US law enforcement source, said the target was Yair Netanyahu, his 35-year-old son who has long lived in the Miami area and is known for his outspoken support for hawkish Israeli policies.

The younger Netanyahu abruptly returned to Israel, leaving his belongings behind, Newsmax said.

Israel in the opening salvo of the war on February 28 killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with much of his family.

His son Mojtaba, one of Khamenei's six children, was named the new supreme leader a week later and has not been seen in public since.

In a message read out on his behalf on state TV, Mojtaba Khamenei said that in addition to his father, he had lost his wife, his sister, her child and his brother-in-law.