Trump warns of swift new US strikes if Iran revives nuclear programme

• Trump says open to negotiating smarter Iran deal.
• Hopes Israel moves towards better ties with Syria.
• Relays Putin claim of Ukrainian attack on residence.

US President Donald Trump on Monday said that the US would quickly launch new attacks on Iran if it is rebuilding the nuclear programme that he struck in June.

"I hear Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we have to knock them down," he told reporters while welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to discuss the next phase Gaza plan. "We'll knock the hell out of them."

Trump also said he remained open to negotiating a "deal," which he called "much smarter."

"I feel that if you had the wrong prime minister, Israel would not exist," Trump told reporters, in remarks full of praise for the Israeli leader.

He said Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges.

He added that he hoped Israel could get along with Syria, even as Netanyahu's government has consistently infringed upon Syrian territorial sovereignty since former strongman Bashar al-Assad was deposed late last year.

Russia-Ukraine conflict

Trump further said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him Ukraine tried to attack Putin's residence in northern Russia, which Kyiv has denied.

Russia accused Ukraine of trying to attack Putin's residence in northern Russia, although it provided no evidence to back up an assertion that Kyiv dismissed as baseless and designed to undermine peace negotiations.

"I don't like it. It's not good," Trump told reporters when asked if he was worried the allegation could affect his efforts to broker peace. "I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it."

"It's a delicate period of time. This is not the right time. It's one thing to be offensive, because they're offensive. It's another thing to attack his house. It's not the right time to do any of that," he said.

When asked if there was any evidence of such an attack, Trump said: "We'll find out."

He described his call with Putin earlier on Monday as a "very good talk."

"We have a few very thorny issues," Trump said about talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

It claims Donbas — comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, although they are all internationally recognised as Ukraine's sovereign territory.

Russia wants Kyiv to withdraw troops from parts of the Donetsk region it has failed to occupy. Kyiv wants fighting halted along the current front lines, and Washington has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine pulls troops back.