Netanyahu is urging the US leader to take a harder line on arch-foe Iran’s ballistic missile programme, and rushed to Washington a week earlier than expected as the Iran talks proceeded.
The Israeli Prime Minister stated that his talks would “first and foremost” focus on the Iran negotiations, while adding that they would also discuss Gaza and other regional issues.
“I will present to the President our views regarding the principles for the negotiations,” he said in a video statement. Netanyahu’s office said he would highlight Iran’s missile arsenal.
Israel’s concerns came to a head during their unprecedented war last year, during which Iran launched waves of ballistic missiles and other projectiles at Israeli territory, striking both military and civilian areas.
Netanyahu also met Trump’s Middle East envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, on Tuesday night.
What does Trump think?
While talking up hopes of a nuclear deal, Trump has also been dialling up the threat of possible US military action against Iran.
He warned in an interview with the Axios news outlet earlier on Tuesday that he was “thinking” of sending a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region.
“Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time,” Trump said. “We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going.”
Trump, who ordered US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last June, separately told Fox Business that any deal would have to involve “no nuclear weapons, no missiles”.
What does Iran say?
So far, Iran has rejected expanding its talks with the United States beyond the issue of its nuclear programme, though Washington also wants Tehran’s ballistic missile programme and its support for regional militant groups on the table.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that Tehran, which resumed talks with Washington last week in Oman, would “not yield to excessive demands” on its nuclear programme.
But he insisted his country was “not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons”.
‘Board of Peace’ and West Bank
Netanyahu’s visit will also include other issues, from Gaza to the West Bank.
He officially signed on as a member of Trump’s “Board of Peace” during a meeting earlier Wednesday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Israeli PM’s office said.
The group was originally meant to oversee the Gaza ceasefire but Trump is now positioning it as a possible rival to the United Nations.
The “Board of Peace” is due to hold a meeting in Washington on February 19. Netanyahu had been due to attend but brought his trip forward to push his Iran demands.
The meeting will also come amid growing international outrage over Israeli measures to tighten control of the occupied West Bank by allowing settlers to buy land directly from Palestinian owners.
How many meetings?
Wednesday’s meeting is the sixth between the two leaders on US soil since Trump returned to office in January 2025 – five times at the White House and once at the Republican’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
A seventh meeting took place in Jerusalem in October when Trump announced a ceasefire in Gaza.
-Agence France-Presse
