Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Trump Says Israel And Arabs United By Threat Of Iran

President Trump said on Monday that shared concern about Iran was driving Israel and many Arab states closer and demanded that Tehran immediately cease military and financial backing of “terrorists and militias.”

In stressing threats from Iran, Trump echoed a theme laid out during weekend meetings in Saudi Arabia about the Islamic Republic’s growing regional influence and financial muscle.

Trump has also vowed to do whatever is necessary to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians but has given little indication of how he could revive negotiations.

He focused firmly on Iran in talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

“What’s happened with Iran has brought many of the parts of the Middle East toward Israel,” Trump said in public remarks at a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

Trump spoke of forging a regional coalition to counter what he described as Shi’ite Muslim Iran’s involvement in conflicts in the region, rather than renewed efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“No matter where we go, we see the signs of Iran,” Trump said in comments to Netanyahu.

Israel shares the antipathy many Arab states have towards Iran, seeing the Islamic Republic as a threat to its existence.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.