Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to Washington, D.C., earlier than expected, as President Donald Trump appears optimistic a nuclear deal with Iran is in sight.
Netanyahu was initially planning to meet with Trump at the White House on Feb. 18, the day before the first meeting of the Board of Peace, which is devoted to Gaza’s redevelopment. Now, following the conclusion of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in Oman on Friday, Netanyahu has accelerated that time frame and will now meet with Trump on those negotiations alone a week earlier, on Feb. 11.
His office announced the change in a statement on X that suggested Netanyahu is concerned the deal, if struck, may be far too limiting. It said Netanyahu wants any negotiations with Iran to include “limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis.”
Those two issues have been a red line for Iran, which has insisted those are nonstarters while remaining open to discussing its nuclear program.
The United States, led by Middle East special envoy and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has largely held Israel’s view, though Trump was strikingly positive after the Friday negotiations that initially seemed inconclusive.
Calling the talks “very good,” he suggested to reporters aboard Air Force One that a deal is on the table, one that would have been “accepted immediately” and avoided the hostilities of the 12-Day War last summer.
While details of that proposed deal are unclear, Trump said it must include “no nuclear weapons,” which Iran insists it is not pursuing anyway despite evidence to the contrary.
Netanyahu’s demands may derail the negotiations if Trump is still favorable to them, especially as Iran is digging in on its hard-line stance following the Oman negotiations.
Earlier Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led Iran’s negotiating team there, told Al Jazeera that its ballistic missile production was “never negotiable” because it is related to the country’s defense.
Araghchi also revealed some nuances to the nuclear component. He was firm that uranium enrichment is Iran’s “inalienable right and must continue,” but maintained that the regime is open for a deal on it.
“We are ready to reach a reassuring agreement on enrichment. The Iranian nuclear case will only be resolved through negotiations,” he said.
In the event negotiations collapse, a U.S. military response would appear to be likely as Trump has been weighing the prospect for over a month.
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His initial concern was about the regime’s violent crackdown on protesters, who were demonstrating against Tehran’s struggling economy.
Around the same time, however, Netanyahu briefed Trump at Mar-a-Lago on intelligence that Iran was rebuilding its ballistic missile program. Shortly after that meeting, Trump was supportive of any future Israeli strikes on Iran if the regime continued missile development or rapidly pursued nuclear weapons.
