Netanyahu in Washington to meet Trump

Popular support for the United States’ war with Iran has fallen to its lowest since the beginning of the conflict five months ago, according to a new poll conducted by the Reuters news agency and the Ipsos polling institute.

Only a third of Americans are supportive of their country’s military operations, according to a poll conducted over the weekend and published Monday.

Meanwhile, 69% are of the opinion that US President Donald Trump has failed to adequately explain the goals of the intervention.

A government spokesperson told Reuters that the White House has no say in the survey and that President Trump does not make decisions based on fluctuating survey results.

He stressed that the most important objective in a war against Iran is the decline of Tehran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons.

So far, 18 US service personnel have been killed during the operation, along with thousands more in Iran and Lebanon, despite Trump’s promise during his 2024 election campaign to keep the United States out of foreign wars.

The poll put the general public’s support for Trump at 37%.

The Israeli Air Force said Tuesday morning that it had intercepted a drone near the border with Jordan — though it did not provide any information about the possible origin of the weapon.

According to the Air Force, the drone did not enter Israeli airspace.

The operation follows the interception of two more drones near the Jordanian border on Monday, whose origin is also unclear.

In addition to Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan also shares borders with Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, placing it geographically at the center of several regional conflicts. The United States also maintains a military presence at Jordanian air force bases.

Although Israel took part in the initial joint attack against Iran in February, it has not participated in the recent round of attacks.

The US State Department confirmed on Monday that the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will begin next week on August 4 in Rome.

“In Rome, the technical group will focus on advancing the full implementation of the framework agreement,” a State Department official told the French AFP news agency.

The Israel-Lebanon framework agreement calls for a cessation of hostilities, the disarmament of the terrorist group Hezbollah, the deployment of Lebanese military troops to the south of the country, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon in two so-called “pilot zones”.

The official said the agenda would include, among other things, “resolution of all pending border issues”.

“The experience from the initial zones will help us in getting the pilot-zone implementation right so that it can be expanded in a phased manner,” the official said.

Despite the framework agreement, Lebanon has reported intermittent Israeli attacks and artillery shelling in the south of the country in recent days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached Washington on Tuesday to meet US President Donald Trump.

It will be Netanyahu’s first visit to the White House since the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February, triggering the current war.

“This is a great privilege, but it is also a great responsibility,” Netanyahu said before leaving for Israel on Monday.

“We will discuss all issues on the agenda, first of all Iran. Naturally, our goal is to protect our security and expand the circle of peace around us,” he said.

The visit comes as Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Netanyahu over hostilities in the Middle East, referring to him in an interview as a “difficult guy.”

Welcome to our coverage of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to discuss the conflict with US President Donald Trump in Washington today. The two leaders have publicly disagreed during the war, with Trump in recent weeks expressing frustration over Netanyahu’s actions in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, according to Washington, the next round of direct Israeli-Lebanese talks is being arranged for early next month.

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