The White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday was private, with Netanyahu spending nearly three hours at the White House out of view of reporters and both leaders declining to take questions afterward, according to the Associated Press.
Trump described the outcome himself later in a social media post, saying he had insisted that negotiations with Iran continue as Washington works toward a nuclear deal. In the post, Trump wrote that “there was nothing definitive reached,” adding that the only specific point settled from the meeting was that “I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated.”
Trump said that if a deal is possible, he would inform Netanyahu that it would be a preference, while warning that if negotiations do not produce results, “we will just have to see what the outcome will be.” He also pointed to a history of U.S. airstrikes tied to Iran’s last decision not to make a deal, writing that “Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal” and were hit by U.S. airstrikes. Trump then added, “Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”
In an emailed statement, Netanyahu’s office said Trump and Netanyahu discussed negotiations with Iran and developments in Gaza and around the region, and that they agreed to continue their “close coordination and relationship.” Netanyahu’s office also said that the private meeting came after multiple diplomatic touchpoints connected to the Iran talks, including Netanyahu’s earlier meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House across the street from the White House.
The Wednesday meeting was their seventh during Trump’s second term, and it took place as both the U.S. and Iran have projected cautious optimism after indirect talks in Oman last Friday on approaching negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Trump also said earlier, in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow on Tuesday, that he believed Iran would be foolish not to make a deal and referenced U.S. action in the last round of nuclear confrontation, saying “We took out their nuclear power last time, and we’ll have to see if we take out more this time.” In that interview, Trump also said a deal would need to include “No nuclear weapons, no missiles.”
Netanyahu, for his part, has said Israel wants the talks expanded beyond the narrow nuclear issue. Netanyahu’s office said prior to the meeting that he wants U.S.-Iran negotiations to include limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and limits related to Iran’s support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Speaking Tuesday before leaving Israel, Netanyahu said he would present to Trump “our outlook regarding the principles of these negotiations — the essential principles which, in my opinion, are important not only to Israel, but to everyone around the world who wants peace and security in the Middle East.”
However, it remains unclear how much influence Netanyahu will have over Trump’s approach, the Associated Press reported. Trump had initially threatened military action over Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests in January, before shifting in recent weeks to a pressure campaign aimed at getting Tehran to reach a deal over its nuclear program.
The negotiations are unfolding amid the recent Israel-Iran war context and continuing regional strains. The Associated Press said Iran is still reeling from a 12-day war with Israel in June that included devastating airstrikes, including U.S. bombing of several Iranian nuclear sites. It said those strikes killed nearly 1,000 people in Iran and almost 40 in Israel, and it noted that satellite photos of nuclear sites have recently shown activity that has prompted concern Iran might be trying to salvage or assess damage at the facilities.
The U.S. also has been increasing its military posture in the region, including sending an aircraft carrier, guided-missile destroyers and air defense assets, as Arab and Islamic countries including Turkey and Qatar have urged restraint. Alongside those warnings, the Wednesday meeting also addressed Gaza, with Trump saying in his post that he and Netanyahu discussed “the tremendous progress being made in Gaza, and the Region in general.”
Trump has said the first meeting next week of his Board of Peace, initially framed to oversee future steps of a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan, would also cover other global crises. Before that, Netanyahu met with Witkoff and Kushner shortly after arriving in Washington on Tuesday evening, according to the prime minister’s office, and the talks included updates on the indirect negotiations in Oman. The Associated Press reported that Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, made similar comments about consultations on “next steps” and said mistrust between the longtime adversaries remains a “serious challenge facing the negotiations,” while signaling Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium—one of the major points of contention in the negotiations.
Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, the Associated Press said, and it noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency had characterized Iran as the only country enriching to that level that was not armed with a bomb. The report also said Iran has refused requests from the IAEA to inspect sites bombed in the June war and has restricted IAEA inspections since the U.S. withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, a step Trump has described as having left Iran’s nuclear capabilities exposed again.