Israel and the United States will work together to defeat Iran and end its regional influence, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a message congratulating US president Donald Trump on his inauguration day.
“I am confident that we will complete the defeat of Iran’s terror axis and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for our region,” Netanyahu said addressing Trump in a video released on Monday.
“You withdrew from the dangerous Iran nuclear deal, you recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital … and you recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” Netanyahu said, reflecting on Trump’s first term and his pro-Israel, anti-Iran policies.
With Trump’s return to the White House, significant shifts in US foreign policy are anticipated, particularly in the Middle East.
Israel's former defense minister Yoav Gallant also mentioned Iran in his congratulation note on Trump's inauguration day.
"Our ties are critical to Israel’s security and prosperity - to the return of the hostages, to the removal of the Iranian threat, to achieving our common goal of dismantling the ‘axis of evil’," he wrote in a post on X.
The Trump administration is expected to take a hard stance against Tehran. Both the president and senior members of his team have promised a return of the so-called maximum pressure campaign on Iran.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump said he wished prosperity for Iran but stressed the long-standing Washington red line that the theocracy must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
Anticipating potential pressures, some in Iran including senior aides to Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian have openly called for talks with the Trump administration, suggesting even that the country’s markets can be opened to American companies.
This has not gone down well with the more hardline factions of the Islamic Republic, who inspired and encouraged by the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, warn against any advance by Tehran toward Washington.
"Iran has never discussed its military capabilities with anyone and never will," spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, when asked if Iranian diplomats had addressed potential missile limitations during their meeting with European representatives last week.
The issue of limiting the country's long-range missiles has been a topic of discussion for years.
When the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement was signed, Tehran committed not to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. The United Nations recognizes the agreement as part of Resolution 2231, which formalized the terms of the JCPOA.
“Paragraph 3 of Annex B of resolution 2231 (2015) calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology,” it reads in part.
Iran has continued the research and development of ballistic missiles, insisting that these missiles are not intended to carry nuclear weapons.
During Donald Trump's first term as president, the administration demanded that Iran halt its missile program as a precondition for negotiating a new nuclear agreement following its withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018.
In 2024, amid rising tensions in the region, Tehran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel on two occasions. While most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel and its allies' air defense systems, a few caused damage inside Israel.
Although Tehran has not developed nuclear weapons, expert have cautioned that its ballistic missiles could be modified to carry warheads if it chooses to pursue them in the future, potentially following the North Korean model.
Tehran, already burdened by international sanctions, is bracing for an even tougher sanctions regime as Donald Trump makes his return to the White House. This has prompted growing calls from some Iranian government officials and politicians for negotiations with the incoming administration to ease US sanctions.
In comments to reporters, Baghaei repeated previous threats by Tehran that if UN sanctions are brought back this year as part of the JCPOA “snapback mechanism,” Iran might withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, however, has yet to signal any willingness to compromise on key issues, such as high-level uranium enrichment or the ballistic missile program.
When a reporter asked the spokesman about leaving the NPT as a retaliatory option, Baghaei said, "If the snapback mechanism is used as a tool to pressure Iran or extract concessions, our response will be proportional. It has been clearly stated that any misuse of this mechanism means there will no longer be justification for Iran to remain in certain existing agreements. This position has been expressed before as well."
