The Israeli prime minister wants talks between the United States and Iran to bring up Tehran’s ballistic missiles, a red line for Tehran to cross.
Published February 9, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head to the United States for talks with President Donald Trump, with the US president confirming plans for continued talks with Iran after weekend talks between the rivals in Oman, Netanyahu’s office said.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced on Monday that the meeting would address ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran, as Netanyahu believes Iran should “limit its ballistic missiles” and end support for regional organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
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The planned meeting will be the seventh between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the US president returned to power last year. Analysts expect Netanyahu will likely urge Trump to push Iran to develop ballistic missiles, which is seen as a red line for Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that talks would remain focused on the nuclear issue and that he considered the missile program “non-negotiable.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday described indirect talks held in Oman on Friday as a “step forward” and said his administration supports dialogue.
“Our reasoning on the nuclear issue is based on the rights enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Pezeshkian said in a post to X on Sunday. “The Iranian people have always responded to respect with respect, but words of force cannot be tolerated.”
Iranian officials have expressed enthusiasm for nuclear-only negotiations while rejecting a major U.S. military buildup in the region.
Israel and the United States are both hostile to Iran, but Israel has taken a more assertive stance on negotiations, with President Trump saying they would resume this week.
The US president said the final round of talks, which ended in Oman on Friday, “went very well” and that Iran “looks like it very much wants a deal.”
“If we don’t get a deal, the consequences are very serious,” Trump added.
“It’s a long road to building trust.”
The talks between the United States and Iran come after President Trump had threatened for weeks to take military action if Iran did not reach a deal. He increased pressure by sending aircraft carriers and accompanying warships to the Middle East.
World powers and regional countries are concerned that a breakdown in negotiations could lead to the conflict spilling over into other oil-producing regions.
Iranian Minister Araghchi said talks with the United States were a “good start” but “there is a long way to go to build trust.”
Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible States, a foreign policy think tank, said the outcome of U.S.-Iran negotiations could depend on whether the U.S. focuses on “absolutely achievable” nuclear demands or adopts Israel’s maximalist position.
“If Israel continues to pursue red lines, those negotiations will soon break down,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.
