Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labeled the Iranian leadership "savages" and claimed that a diplomatic deal with Tehran was impossible.

He also praised President Donald Trump’s renewed campaign of economic pressure.

Recounting a recent meeting with Trump, Netanyahu said they had discussed the possibility of diplomacy with the Islamic republic and added: "I doubt, however, that an agreement can be reached with that group there, with those savages."

"I tell you – an agreement cannot be reached," Netanyahu said late Tuesday at an event in Jerusalem for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu has long opposed diplomacy with Iran, openly campaigning against a 2015 nuclear deal brokered by then U.S. president Barack Obama, but he has been publicly careful not to criticize Trump who has also sought a negotiated settlement.

Trump joined Netanyahu in a U.S.-Israeli joint attack on Iran in late February but agreed to a cease-fire in April in the face of widespread U.S. public opposition to the war, which had sent oil prices spiraling.

Trump Monday declared "economic D-Day" aimed at destroying Iran's economy, which has already endured years of sanctions, but he has shown reluctance to resume a full-scale war even as he grows frustrated that Tehran will not accept his demands.

Netanyahu, who is trailing in some polls ahead of Oct. 27 elections, voiced support for Trump's economic pressure campaign and took a degree of ownership, saying he told Trump of this "third option."

He praised the U.S. president for pursuing the economic path in "a very, very, very strong way."

Trump had chosen to target not just Iran itself but decided on "tightening the siege on those who assist this regime, this terrible dictatorship. This is very important," Netanyahu said.

Warning Iran against new strike

The Israeli leader had pushed for years for a U.S. attack on Iran, whose Shiite cleric-run state supports armed groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, which led the devastating Oct. 7, 2023 incursion on Israel.

Netanyahu met Trump at the White House on July 28. In his remarks Tuesday, Netanyahu said that the two also discussed renewing military action against Iran.

"I told him: We are there, we will defend ourselves, and we will not allow Iran to attack us," Netanyahu said.

"And if, God forbid, they attack us, they will suffer a blow they never dreamed of – much stronger than anything they have suffered so far," he said.

The war has become even more personal for Netanyahu as he revealed Monday that Iran tried to kill one of his sons.

He did not give further details. The U.S. news channel Newsmax, quoting an anonymous U.S. law enforcement source, said the target was Yair Netanyahu, his 35-year-old son who has long lived in the Miami area and is known for his outspoken support for hawkish Israeli policies.

The younger Netanyahu abruptly returned to Israel, leaving his belongings behind, Newsmax said.

Israel in the opening salvo of the war on Feb. 28 ,killed Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with much of his family.

His son Mojtaba, one of Khamenei's six children, was named the new supreme leader a week later and has not been seen in public since.

In a message read out on his behalf on state TV, Mojtaba Khamenei said that in addition to his father, he had lost his wife, his sister, her child and his brother-in-law.