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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House for his first in-person talks with US President Donald Trump since the Iran war began in February, and later described their meeting as “excellent” and “one of the best we’ve ever had,” The Times of Israel reported.
The meeting took place behind closed doors in the Oval Office, with reporters not invited in and without a press conference afterwards.
The sit-down came amid reported straining of ties between the two leaders, with Trump expressing 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 Iran war would play out have come to fruition, according to the report.
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.”
Trump did not speak to reporters after the meeting, and the White House did not release a readout on the talks. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the talks, along with Trump’s earlier meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, were “positive and productive.”
“Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” Trump later wrote in a brief Truth Social post that included photos from the meeting with Netanyahu, which he described as “very good meeting.” Trump put out a nearly identical post about his sit-down with Zelensky, saying the “meeting went very well” and “many things were discussed.”