Trump would back Israeli strikes on Iran’s missile program if US-Iran talks fail: Report

US President Donald Trump said he would support Israeli strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile program if negotiations between Washington and Tehran fail, US media reported. Trump made the remarks when he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in December, according to a CBS News report, citing two sources familiar with the matter. US military and intelligence officials have also discussed how Washington could assist Israel in potential operations against Iran’s missile infrastructure, including providing aerial refueling for Israeli aircraft and helping secure overflight permissions from related regional countries, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the report. However, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have publicly stated they would not allow their airspace to be used for any attacks against Iran, nor for Iran to launch attacks on other countries. Also on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a visit to Slovakia that he prefers resolving tensions with Iran through diplomatic means. A second round of US-Iran nuclear talks is expected to be held in Geneva on Tuesday. Rubio confirmed that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will represent Washington in the negotiations. The meeting follows the first round in Oman’s Muscat on February 6 that both sides described as a “good start” but yielded no visible breakthrough. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi was headed to Geneva on Sunday for a second round of Tehran-Washington indirect talks, even as relevant parties laid out starkly different visions of what a deal should entail, exposing the fragile foundations of the renewed diplomatic push. Araghchi is leading a “diplomatic and specialised” delegation to the talks on Tuesday. He is expected to meet Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, and Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, among other officials, according to a ministry statement.