US President Donald Trump appeared to express his dissatisfaction with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly before their meeting at the White House.
President Trump made the comments on Fox News on Tuesday, hours before meeting with the Israeli prime minister in the Oval Office. The meeting will be the first since the joint war with Iran began on February 28.
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In the end, the meeting started with little fanfare, with Prime Minister Netanyahu entering the White House through a side entrance in the West Wing. His office later released a photo showing Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office.
The event remained closed to the press and no questions were taken. The White House provided little information afterward, except that press secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a short post about X that the gathering was “positive and productive.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu was far more enthusiastic, calling it one of the “best conversations” he had ever had with Trump.
“When I say great, I don’t mean it in a superficial sense,” Netanyahu said.
Trump, however, did not provide his own explanation for the meeting. But when asked earlier in the day on Fox News about reports that Netanyahu was scheduled to discuss intelligence allegations related to Iran’s underground nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, he responded with a sour tone.
President Trump used Prime Minister Netanyahu’s nickname in an interview with Fox News, saying, “Bibi doesn’t need to hear that.”
He added that Netanyahu “is saying that because he wants me to stay involved.”
“I said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that? Why did you have to announce it to the world?'” he said, referring to the report.
“We know exactly what’s going on with the pickaxe. It’s not a big deal,” Trump said.
unstable timing
Tuesday’s meeting with Netanyahu comes at a perilous time for President Trump, who has said he is working on a new diplomatic push after 13 days of tensions between the United States and Iran. He has repeatedly threatened new attacks, including on Pickaxe Mountain and Iranian civilian infrastructure, if talks fail.
The fighting follows the breakdown of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the United States and Iran in June that halted fighting, reopened the Strait of Hormuz and lifted the U.S. naval blockade against Iran.
Netanyahu’s government has opposed the deal and supported continued military operations aimed at overthrowing the regime.
Meanwhile, U.S. media reports have fueled the public perception that Netanyahu has repeatedly influenced President Trump to take military action against Iran, including in the run-up to last year’s 12-day war and the current five-month war.
The conflict remains widely unpopular in the United States and has become increasingly unpopular even within President Trump’s Republican Party.
Still, President Trump downplayed the differences over Iran when speaking to reporters on Monday.
“We have some differences, but we’re pretty close,” Trump said of Netanyahu.
In the exchange, President Trump also pushed back against Israel’s opposition to the U.S. restarting its F-35 program with Turkiye.
“Frankly, we’ve been very good to a lot of countries that we can’t live without. And you know who the country that we can’t live without is Israel?”
Despite President Trump and especially his Vice President J.D. Vance’s willingness to criticize Israel in recent weeks, Washington’s policy of maintaining military aid remains unchanged.
Netanyahu’s visit comes as lawmakers continue to consider a defense budget that would combine parts of the U.S. and Israeli militaries, which has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
It also comes as a wave of settler violence continues to sweep across the occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces also continue to carry out near-daily attacks in the Gaza Strip and continue to deploy in Lebanon.
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu were expected to discuss a recent agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government that critics say allows Israel’s near-indefinite presence in the country, even though it ultimately calls for Israel’s withdrawal.
Israel emphasizes relations
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” over the weekend and said he would like to meet with President Trump to find out “what he thinks” about Iran.
“Because I think in many ways it’s his decision” on how to move forward, Netanyahu said. “If he can do so without returning to intense military combat, that’s fine. Why not?
Observers said the meeting was a balancing act for Netanyahu, seeking to dispel the perception among Americans that he is pushing the United States into more wars.
At the same time, he is trying to use his closeness to the president to expand support in the run-up to Israel’s October elections.
After the meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu said his conversations with President Trump were filled with “partnership, mutual support, and a common understanding of the common goal of ensuring that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons and other objectives.”
