President Donald Trump, fresh off his trek to meeting China’s Xi Jinping face to face, is weighing restarting military action on Iran, and he will speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
“Our eyes are also open regarding Iran,” Netanyahu said Sunday morning, as translated from Hebrew. “I will speak today, as I do every few days, with our friend President Trump.
“I will certainly hear impressions from his trip to China, and perhaps other matters as well. There are certainly many possibilities, and we are prepared for every scenario.”
Trump remains at the White House on Sunday, but no public or press appearances are on his schedule.
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The call with Netanyahu comes amid Fox News’ reporting of regional intelligence assessments on Iran that restarting of military strikes might be coming because of Trump’s frustration with Iran’s tactics amid the closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the rejection of his demand to give up nuclear weapons aspirations.
“The prevailing assessment inside Iran is that President Trump may resort to restarting military action, and Tehran is now deliberately pursuing a strategy of ‘deception and delay’ with the hopes that buying time will complicate any potential return to war,” two regional intelligence officials told Fox News.
Intelligence officials believe that the Iranian regime thinks it can delay developments and stretch the crisis out for at least two more weeks, so that the situation could become more difficult for Trump to restart the military campaign, both politically and operationally.
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These sources say Iranian officials are looking at the World Cup and America’s 250th anniversary as a backstop that could work in their favor.
Fox News has reached out to the White House for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
The impact of the U.S.-led blockade is becoming increasingly visible inside Iran, according to a senior Israeli official.
Early signs of a developing fuel crisis started emerging over the weekend, including long lines at gas stations and growing public discontent over fuel shortages, and distribution problems.
Prices continue to rise, unemployment is climbing and inflation is accelerating sharply.
“It’s getting exponentially worse,” the official added.
Fox News’ Trey Yingst and Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
