WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 11 amid ongoing tensions with Iran over its nuclear program.
After the meeting, Trump said they did not reach a final agreement. Netanyahu was expected to push for Israel’s security concerns to be included in any future deal with Tehran.
“It was a very good meeting,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“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. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be.”
This was Netanyahu’s sixth visit to the United States since Trump took office in early 2025. The meeting followed Washington’s first round of talks with Iran in Oman on Feb. 6.
Netanyahu earlier raised concerns about the talks and stated that any negotiations with Tehran should include limitations on ballistic missiles and an end to support for the Iranian axis, which includes extremist groups such as the Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist groups.
“I will present Trump with principles for negotiations with Iran that are important not only to Israel but to everyone who wants peace and security,” Netanyahu told reporters before leaving for Washington.
In June, after Israeli forces carried out attacks on Iran, Iranian forces responded by besieging Israeli cities with days of missile salvos.
Israeli officials earlier described the meeting with Trump as a strategy session focused on the U.S.–Iran negotiations and possible outcomes if talks fail, including a potential U.S. military strike.
Trump recently directed a buildup of U.S. military forces in the Middle East and has threatened new strikes on Iran if a deal cannot be reached between Washington and Tehran over its nuclear program.
“Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer—That did not work well for them,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”
The president said the meeting with Netanyahu also covered discussions about “the tremendous progress being made in Gaza, and the Region in general.”
“There is truly PEACE in the Middle East,” he wrote.
Netanyahu arrived in Washington on the night of Feb. 10 and soon after met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at Blair House, the president’s official guest residence.
During the meeting, Witkoff and Kushner briefed the Israeli leader on the first round of talks with Iran held in Oman. Netanyahu also met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the morning of Feb. 11 at Blair House and officially signed on to the Board of Peace, an international organization begun by Trump to oversee the Gaza Strip.
On Feb. 7, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that Iran’s missile programs are not up for negotiation. Araghchi was part of the Iranian delegation at the Oman talks.
Speaking with reporters on Air Force One on Feb. 6, Trump said Iran “wants to make a deal very badly.”
In January, Trump announced that he had ordered a “massive fleet” to the Gulf region. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and elements of its strike group have since been redirected to the Middle East.
He is now considering sending a second U.S. aircraft carrier strike group to the region if talks fail.
“We have an armada that is heading there, and another one might be going,” Trump told Axios on Feb. 10.
“Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough, like last time,” he said, referring to the June 2025 U.S. strikes that targeted three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
