Netanyahu says Israel backs Trump’s Iran naval blockade

Benjamin Netanyahu | MGN

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel supports President Trump’s decision to impose a naval blockade on Iran, adding that his government is coordinating fully with Washington on the matter.

“Iran violated the rules (of the peace talks in Pakistan), President Trump decided to impose a naval blockade,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, according to a video statement released by his office.

“We, of course, support this firm position, and we are in constant coordination with the United States.”

Netanyahu also said Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation to the weekend peace talks in Pakistan between the U.S. and Iran, updated him on those talks and “made it clear that the main issue is the removal of all (of Iran’s) enriched (nuclear) material and ensuring that there is no more enrichment.”

Netanyahu said he visited Israeli troops Sunday in the security zone they established in southern Lebanon separating it from Israel.

“Of course the fighting continues,” he said. “It has not stopped. It continues all the time. Yesterday and today, it was concentrated in Bint Jbeil” in southern Lebanon.

Strikes by Israel on Iran proxy-Hezbollah in Lebanon and by Hezbollah into Israel have become a key bone of contention in the Mideast war.

Negotiations between Israel and the Lebanese government are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington after a surprise announcement from Netanyahu’s office that he had authorized the talks.