Netanyahu Hails 'Excellent' Trump Meeting as Israel Presses Harder Iran Line Amid Rifts

Benjamin Netanyahu left the White House on Tuesday describing his meeting with Donald Trump as "excellent," and he went out of his way to say he did not mean it superficially. In a video released by his office, the Israeli prime minister called it one of the best conversations he has ever had with the president and said it was a chance to exchange ideas and coordinate on matters bearing on Israel's security and future.

It was the first time the two men had met in person since Israel and the United States began their air campaign against Iran in late February. The context is less cheerful than the readouts. Trump is trying to wind the war down. It has killed 18 US service members, cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and pushed up gasoline prices ahead of the November midterm elections. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, posting on X, called Trump's separate meetings with Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "productive and positive."

The day before, Trump had been more candid. Asked whether he and Netanyahu agreed on Iran, he said they had "a little difference, but pretty close." The two leaders presented a united front when the war began, but as Trump searched for an off-ramp, his public remarks increasingly showed frustration with Netanyahu's preference for a tougher campaign against Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. The strain became public after Israeli strikes in Beirut threatened to derail US-Iran peace talks. Trump acknowledged calling Netanyahu "crazy" in an expletive-laden phone call on June 1.

Israeli officials were kept out of the negotiations over a preliminary deal between Tehran and Washington meant to end the war and restart nuclear talks. That agreement collapsed after Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz prompted a renewed US naval blockade. On Friday, Trump halted a run of airstrikes on Iranian military sites that had lasted nearly two weeks, and Iran in turn paused attacks on US bases in the region. Mediators from Pakistan, Qatar and Oman are now working to close the remaining gaps on reopening the strait and restoring a ceasefire.

Netanyahu was expected to caution Trump against any deal that gives Tehran concessions, doubting Iran will ever fully give up its nuclear program or regional agenda. Israeli officials told Al-Monitor he planned to present possible attack plans, including strikes on Iranian bridges, roads, railway lines and regime strongholds in Tehran. Defense Minister Israel Katz said at a conference hours before the meeting that Israel "very much wants to attack energy targets in Iran but that the United States does not allow it at the moment."

Trump bristled at reports that Netanyahu would share intelligence on Iranian efforts to rebuild its nuclear program at the Pickaxe Mountain site. "I don't need Bibi to tell me that," he told Fox News. "Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved." The facility sits in the Zagros Mountains about a mile from Natanz, one of three Iranian nuclear sites the US bombed in June 2025. International inspectors have not been allowed in, which has fed concern it could serve covert purposes such as uranium enrichment. Trump called it "not a big problem" but said the US would have to "take out Pickaxe if they don't make a deal."

Other disagreements surfaced too. On Monday Trump brushed aside Netanyahu's opposition to a possible US sale of F-35 stealth fighters to Turkey, telling reporters on Air Force One that "nobody tells me what we should be selling." Netanyahu also hoped a show of closeness would help his sagging poll numbers before Israel's October election. Trump said last month he would "most likely" back him but first had "to look at who's running."

A White House official said the leaders were also to discuss the framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon and Trump's wish to expand the Abraham Accords. Afterward, Netanyahu attended the Washington funeral of his longtime ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, a leading advocate of war with Iran. Trump called Graham "extremely hawkish" and said he "never saw a war that he didn't like." What to watch next is whether the mediators can reopen Hormuz and restore the US-Iran ceasefire.