During a visit to Florida that brought President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu together, Trump warned Iran that the U.S. could conduct additional military strikes if Iran attempts to rebuild its nuclear program. Trump delivered the warning at his Mar-a-Lago estate, raising the possibility that any suspected Iranian activity could occur outside the specific enrichment sites the U.S. previously targeted.
Trump’s comments followed his earlier assertion that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities were “completely and fully obliterated” after U.S. strikes in June. With Netanyahu by his side, Trump suggested the administration had heard indications that Iran may be trying to “build up again,” and he said the U.S. would respond if the situation were confirmed. “Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump told reporters, adding, “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
After their meeting, Trump also told reporters that he could order another U.S. strike if it is confirmed that Iran is acting. “If it’s confirmed, they know the consequences, and the consequences will be very powerful, maybe more powerful than the last time,” Trump said at a news conference with Netanyahu.
The warning came as Trump sought momentum for a U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The Gaza deal, brokered by the U.S., has mostly held in its first phase since it began in October, according to the account of the meeting, but progress has slowed ahead of the agreement’s complicated second phase. The first phase started days after the two-year anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, and it resulted in the release of all but one of the 251 hostages taken, with the remaining hostage accounted for as alive or dead.
Trump and Netanyahu discussed the next phase of the ceasefire, which the report described as involving naming an international governing body and rebuilding devastated Palestinian territory. Trump said he wanted to reach the second phase “as quickly as we can,” but he also said “there has to be a disarming of Hamas.” The ceasefire framework described in the report also centers on a demilitarized Gaza overseen by an international supervision structure and the creation of a security apparatus referred to as the International Stabilization Force.
The report said much remained unsettled, including the formation and mandate of the stabilization force and other logistical and humanitarian issues. It described competing expectations about what the force would do and how it would be understood by governments that might contribute troops, with a Western diplomat warning there was a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli view of the mandate and the views of other regional countries and European governments. Countries being courted to contribute troops, the diplomat said, fear that the mandate could be interpreted as an “occupation force,” and the account said the diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because details had not been made public.
According to an official briefed on meetings, Israel’s pace in preparing the second phase has been slowed by security and political vetting. The official said Israeli officials have taken time to vet and approve members of a Palestinian technocratic committee from a list provided by the mediators, and that Israel’s military strikes have continued. The report also said Trump’s plan called for the international stabilization force to maintain security and for it to include disarming Hamas and other militant groups, while Hamas said it was ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal but insisted it has a right to armed resistance while Israel occupies Palestinian territory.
Trump’s Florida meetings also included separate discussions involving hostage-related families. The report said the Israeli prime minister met in Florida with families of hostages as well as with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It said the parents of Ran Gvili met with Netanyahu, Rubio, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and it quoted Trump as saying the family was “waiting for their son to come home.”
In parallel, Trump renewed calls for Netanyahu to receive a pardon from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is in office during Netanyahu’s ongoing trial. The report said Netanyahu is the only sitting Israeli prime minister in the country’s history to face trial, charged in separate cases with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes. Trump told reporters that Herzog has told him “it’s on its way” without offering further details. Herzog’s office said in a statement that Herzog and Trump have not spoken since the pardon request was submitted, but that Herzog spoke with a Trump representative about Trump’s letter urging the pardon and provided an explanation about the procedural stage.
In their meeting, Netanyahu and Trump also exchanged praise and discussed education-policy honors. The report said Netanyahu was told during the lunch that Israel’s education ministry would award him the Israel Prize, a break with convention because it is typically bestowed on an Israeli citizen or resident. Netanyahu said Trump had “broken so many conventions” and that, “So we decided to break a convention too, or create a new one.”