By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed the truth about how closely the US and Israel are working together to stop Iran.
The revelation comes amid fears that Trump is being backed into a geopolitical corner by Israel after the president was forced to veto an assassination plot on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayotollah Ali Khamanei, it emerged on Sunday.
Israel and Iran resumed ferocious shelling tonight as GOP hawks encouraged Israel's onslaught, opening up a split with the MAGA branch of the party which fears America will become mired in another Middle East war.
Netanyahu's remarks on the conflict came during an interview with FOX News on Sunday's Special Report, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave a telling answer on Capitol Hill about America's plans in Iran. Hegseth said all options were on the table as nuclear Armageddon fears mounted.
Netanyahu revealed to host Bret Baier that he and Trump had been in close contact prior to Israel's attack on key Iranian targets earlier this week.
'There were reports that President Trump kind of helped you achieve your strategic surprise by publicly urging you not to attack when he already knew you had decided to do it. So, you were closely coordinating with the U.S. throughout this process?' Baier pressed.
'Look, we're fully coordinated, but understand that America, under President Trump, will make the decisions that are best for America,' Netanyahu noted.
'And the -- that's the way it is. He understands that I, as the Prime Minister of Israel, the one and only Jewish state, must make the decisions that are important for the survival of my country, and he will do what is best for America. That is a relationship of mutual respect and mutual confidence,' Netanyahu added.
Netanyahu also revealed that Israeli intelligence has insight that the attempts on Donald Trump's life in 2024 were Iranian-backed.
'Do you have intel that the assassination attempts on President Trump were directly from Iran?' Baier asked Netanyahu.
A few moments later, Netanyahu added that Trump is Iran's 'enemy number one' while he is Trump's 'junior partner' in Iran's eyes.
Earlier this week on Capitol Hill, Hegseth on Thursday echoed Netanyahu's line on the interwoven nature of America's relationship with Israel, particularly when it comes to Iran.
California Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna asked if Hegseth will promise that America won't bomb Iran, unless directly attacked, the Defense Secretary gave an answer which basically amounted to acknowledging that all options were on the table.
'Will you today assure the American people and the MAGA movement that you will not bomb Iran unless we are hit?' Khanna asked, pressing Hegseth during a Thursday hearing on Capitol Hill.
'Well, here in this forum, it wouldn't be prudent for me to commit or not commit. My job is to be postured and prepared, uh in the region,' Hegseth noted.
A Progressive Democrat, Khanna told Hegseth that MAGA voices online were pressing the U.S. not to enter a direct conflict with Iran, also adding that 'when they're right I quote them.'
Notably, Khanna has been a campaign surrogate for both former President Joe Biden, as well as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Hegseth also noted Thursday that 'the president is has been earnestly and completely committed to a peace process, has given Iran every opportunity, those talks ongoing, but he also fully recognizes the threat that Iran with a nuclear weapon would would exist.'
Pressed by Khanna on whether or not Netanyahu was 'itching for a fight' Hegseth also added that he knows 'that Bibi Netanyahu is going to put his country first and we're going to put our country first and we're positioned properly in the region uh to ensure that we're prepared for any potential contingency.'
Hegseth also added that Trump is 'committed to creating the conditions for peace, creating the conditions for talks where Iran does not ability to develop a nuclear weapon.'
President Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday morning to set the record straight in regards to America's lack of involvement in the developing conflict between Israel and Iran in the Middle East.
'The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight,' the president wrote.
'If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.'
'However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!' he added.
The president has consistently prided himself on being the only one of his compatriots to not start any new wars while being in office.
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on Sunday, killing and wounding civilians and raising concerns of a broader regional conflict, with both militaries urging civilians on the opposing side to take precautions against further strikes.
Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion' with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to 'open the gates of hell' in retaliation.
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict.
Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13.
Sirens rang out across Israel after 4 p.m. on Sunday in the first such daylight alert, and fresh explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv.
In Iran, images from the capital showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state.
Iran has not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a story apartment block flattened in Tehran.