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Netanyahu Gifted Trump a Golden Beeper

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump (not pictured) meet at the White House in Washington, US, February 4, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump (not pictured) meet at the White House in Washington, US, February 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu Gifted Trump a Golden Beeper

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump (not pictured) meet at the White House in Washington, US, February 4, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump (not pictured) meet at the White House in Washington, US, February 4, 2025. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave US President Donald Trump a golden beeper as a gift during their meeting in Washington, in a nod to a sophisticated attack that exploded hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, an Israeli official said.

The attack, which showed a deep infiltration into Hezbollah’s ranks and its operations, wounded thousands of people and killed at least nine. It was carried out Sept. 18, 2024, just as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese group was escalating, culminating in the deaths of multiple Hezbollah leaders and an eventual ceasefire after months of cross-border violence.

The Israeli official said that Trump, upon receiving the gift, responded: “That was a major operation.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to reveal details of the encounter to the media. White House officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The official said Trump and Netanyahu spent five hours together and that their visit included a dinner, a tour of the White House and meetings with officials.

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Iran: Parliament is Preparing Bill to Leave Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty

Smoke billows for the second day from the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran, on June 16, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Smoke billows for the second day from the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran, on June 16, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran: Parliament is Preparing Bill to Leave Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty

Smoke billows for the second day from the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran, on June 16, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Smoke billows for the second day from the Shahran oil depot, northwest of Tehran, on June 16, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iranian parliamentarians are preparing a bill that could push Tehran toward exiting the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the foreign ministry said on Monday, while reiterating Tehran's official stance against developing nuclear weapons.

"In light of recent developments, we will take an appropriate decision. Government has to enforce parliament bills but such a proposal is just being prepared and we will coordinate in the later stages with parliament," the ministry's spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, when asked at a press conference about Tehran potentially leaving the NPT.

The NPT, which Iran ratified in 1970, guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forego atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.

Israel began bombing Iran last week, saying Tehran was on the verge of building a nuclear bomb. Iran has always said its nuclear program is peaceful, although the IAEA declared last week that Tehran was in violation of its NPT obligations.

President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Monday that nuclear weapons were against a religious edict by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran's state media said that no decision on quitting the NPT had yet been made by parliament, while a parliamentarian said that the proposal was at the initial stages of the legal process.

Baghaei said that developments such as Israel's attack "naturally affect the strategic decisions of the state," noting that Israel's attack had followed the IAEA resolution, which he suggested was to blame.

"Those voting for the resolution prepared the ground for the attack," Baghaei said.

Israel, which never joined the NPT, is widely assumed by regional governments to possess nuclear weapons, although it does not confirm or deny this.

"The Zionist regime is the only possessor of weapons of mass destruction in the region," Baghaei said.