Netanyahu says White House meeting with Trump was ‘one of the best we’ve ever had

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House Tuesday for his first in-person talks with US President Donald Trump since the Iran war began in February, with the meeting being described by Netanyahu as "excellent" and "one of the best we've ever had."

The meeting took place behind closed doors and without a press conference afterwards, with Netanyahu quietly entering the White House through a side entrance that was only partially visible to reporters, and leaving without fanfare some 90 minutes later. It was the eighth between the leaders since Trump's return to office in early 2025.

The sit-down came amid reported straining of ties between the two leaders, with Trump e xpressing his annoyance at Netanyahu just before the meeting and with top US officials reportedly frustrated that none of Netanyahu's predictions about how well the war would go have come to fruition, as the conflict continues to fester without a clear end.

However, Netanyahu was quick to temper any suggestions that he and Trump were on bad terms, saying shortly after the meeting: "It was a meeting with full cooperation, with mutual support, with understanding on the joint goal that Iran won't have nuclear weapons, and also other goals."

"It was one of the best conversations I've had with our friend, US President Trump," Netanyahu insisted, and "an opportunity to exchange ideas, and also to coordinate on things that are important for the security and for the future of Israel."

Photos released by Netanyahu's office showed that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, US Vice President JD Vance and Trump's top Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff were all present in the Oval Office.

Trump did not speak to reporters after the meeting, and the White House did not release a readout on the talks. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the talks, along with Trump's earlier meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, were "positive and productive."

After the meeting, both Netanyahu and Trump left the White House to attend the memorial service for the late, pro-Israel Republican senator Lindsey Graham.

A senior official in the prime minister's entourage told The Times of Israel shortly after the sit-down that they "talked about all arenas — primarily Iran," though the issue of Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site did not come up, according to another senior official, despite it being the focus of much attention in recent weeks.

National Public Diplomacy Directorate head Tzipi Hotovely, who was not in the meeting but was briefed by the premier, said that the idea that Netanyahu came to the White House to share specific intelligence about Iran's efforts to build the alleged secretive underground nuclear facility, "is a sort of fake news that ran throughout the day."

"We know how to work in close cooperation with the US intelligence through our channels. We don't need this meeting to bring intelligence," Hotovely said. During a Fox News interview shortly before his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump said the US had intelligence on the site and "I don't need Bibi" to tell him about it, appearing to express irritation with Netanyahu.

Hotovely insisted that Netanyahu's "goal was to deepen coordination, but not to push the president to take one action or another. We do not tell the president of the United States what to do."

On the Iran threat, "there was a deep understanding in the meeting that we are striving for the same goal," she said.

Hotovely also claimed that there was no pressure from Trump in the meeting for Israel to move forward with the reconstruction of Gaza, nor was there pressure to withdraw IDF forces from Syria or Lebanon, despite days of reports that the US would push Israel to concede in all those areas.

According to one report, Trump even refused to meet with Netanyahu until he conceded on at least one arena, with the premier choosing to clear the way for the cabinet to approve a pilot program for the entry of international troops into Gaza.

"There is more or less an understanding of where we are on the Gaza issue," Hotovely said. "And of course the most important thing to say on the Gaza issue is that reconstruction will not begin before full demilitarization."

Also on the agenda was the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords. The topic of Jewish violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which takes place daily and has sparked ire in Washington, also did not come up, Hotovely added.

Despite the Israelis trying to put a positive spin on the meeting and to downplay perceptions that Netanyahu was pushing Trump to resume the war and take a harsher line on Iran, there was real concern in Israel over which direction the mercurial American would go.

"We are in a critical period," a senior Israeli official told Channel 12 after the Oval Office meeting.

"President Trump will make a decision soon where he is heading," said the official. "We are not pushing him, but also aren't burying our heads in the sand. Netanyahu presented [Trump with] the Israeli perspective."

Netanyahu presented Trump with Israeli intelligence on Iran, said the senior official.

"Netanyahu believes there is no choice" but to attack Iran again, the Channel 12 report continued, apparently still quoting the senior Israeli official.

These need to be "significant attacks — on nuclear facilities, capabilities that have been rebuilt, and sites that weren't previously hit." Such strikes, Israel believes, would have the potential to "shake the stability of the regime."

As was the case during previous Netanyahu visits, a small group of anti-Israel activists was staging a demonstration several blocks away from the White House, blaring a non-stop siren that could be barely heard from inside the building.

Outside the White House, a billboard truck commissioned by the Israeli Peace Now settlement watchdog circled the block with a wide banner pointing...