After a conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited to the Oval Office. The negotiations are taking place as part of a two-day visit by the head of the Israeli government to Washington.
Netanyahu and his team entered the White House through a side entrance. The American administration is maintaining an unusually low level of publicity around the meeting: there will be no briefing or joint statements by Trump and Netanyahu.
The meeting includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
Hours before the meeting, Trump said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended to provide him with intelligence on rebuilding Iran’s nuclear program, but that he did not need it. Trump said this in an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Fox News before meeting with Netanyahu at the White House.
“I don’t need Bibi to tell me this. Bibi is telling me this because he wants me to stay involved in the conflict,” Trump said. He added that US officials were closely monitoring Iran’s actions and expressed displeasure that Netanyahu had publicly announced his intention to provide intelligence.
Speaking about the Iranian underground complex in Mount Kolang, known in the West as Pickaxe Mountain, Trump said that he knows exactly what is happening there and does not yet consider this site a serious problem. At the same time, he warned that the United States would strike the complex if Iran did not agree to the deal.