U.S. President Donald Trump met privately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and said he’d insisted that negotiations with Iran continue as the U.S. pushes for a nuclear deal with Tehran. Netanyahu spent nearly three hours at the White House, but entered and left out of the view of reporters and he and Trump didn’t take questions. In a subsequent post on his social media site, however, the president called it “a very good meeting” and said that “there was nothing definitive reached, other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated.” “If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference,” Trump wrote. “If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be.” He added, “Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal” and were hit by U.S. air strikes. “Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible,” Trump wrote. In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister said they’d discussed negotiations with Iran as well as developments in Gaza and around the region and that the pair had “agreed to continue their close coordination and relationship.” The visit was Netanyahu’s seventh during Trump’s second term and comes as both the U.S. and Iran are projecting cautious optimism after holding indirect talks in Oman on Friday about how, once again, to approach negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Trump said on reaching an agreement with Iran in a Tuesday interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow: “I think they’d be foolish if they didn’t. We took out their nuclear power last time, and we’ll have to see if we take out more this time.” “It’s got to be a good deal,” he said then. “No nuclear weapons, no missiles.” Netanyahu pushes for more in Iran talks Netanyahu’s office said prior to the meeting that he wants the U.S.-Iran talks to include limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. “I will present to the president our outlook regarding the principles of these negotiations -- the essential principles which, in my opinion, are important not only to Israel, but to everyone around the world who wants peace and security in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said Tuesday before leaving Israel. But it remains unclear how much influence Netanyahu will have over Trump’s approach toward Iran. Trump initially threatened to take military action over Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in January, then shifted to a pressure campaign in recent weeks to try to get Tehran to make a deal over its nuclear program. Iran is still reeling from the 12-day war with Israel in June. The devastating series of airstrikes, including the U.S. bombing several Iranian nuclear sites, killed nearly 1,000 people in Iran and almost 40 in Israel. Trump has said repeatedly that U.S. strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities, though the amount of damage remains unclear. Satellite photos of nuclear sites have recently captured activity, prompting concern that Iran could be attempting to salvage or assess damage at the sites. Israel has long called for Iran to cease all uranium enrichment, dial back its ballistic missile program and cut ties to militant groups across the region. Iran has always rejected those demands, saying it would only accept some limits on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Washington has built up military forces in the region, sending an aircraft carrier, guided-missile destroyers, air defense assets and more to supplement its presence. Arab and Islamic countries, including Turkey and Qatar, have been urging both sides to show restraint, warning that any strike or retaliation could have destabilizing consequences for a region already strained by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Gaza was also a topic In his post, Trump said he and Netanyahu had “also discussed the tremendous progress being made in Gaza, and the Region in general.” Trump plans to hold the first meeting next week of his Board of Peace, which was initially framed to oversee future steps of the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan but has taken shape with Trump’s ambitions of resolving other global crises. Earlier Wednesday, Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House, across the street from the White House. The prime minister signed to be part of the board, which could indicate he might skip its first official meeting. On Iran, Trump said Friday that his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner had “very good” talks and more were planned this week. But the Republican president kept up the pressure, warning that if Iran did not make a deal over its nuclear program, “the consequences are very steep.” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, made similar comments, saying there will be consultations on “next steps.” He also said the level of mistrust between the two longtime adversaries remains a “serious challenge facing the negotiations.” He signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium -- a major point of contention with Trump. Netanyahu met with Witkoff and Kushner shortly after arriving in Washington on Tuesday evening and they gave him an update on the talks held with Iran in Oman, the prime minister’s office said. Araghchi said in November that Iran was no longer enriching uranium due to the damage from last year’s war. Before the war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that was not armed with the bomb. Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war. Even before that, Iran has restricted IAEA inspections since Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. ___ Farnoush Amiri And Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press Amiri reported from New York.
