PM Netanyahu leaves for Washington to brief Trump on Iran threats ahead of next round of negotiations
Prime Minister reportedly wants to present Israeli intelligence on Iran to Trump directly
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flying to Washington on Tuesday morning for another meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran appear to have hit a stalemate.
According to the recent statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, the focus of the meeting will be Israel’s request that the talks include the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional anti-Israel proxies.
Netanyahu’s visit to Washington is short, with very little unscheduled time. According to reports in Israeli media, the prime minister will depart from Israel in the late morning or early afternoon, arriving in Washington in the evening, U.S. time. He will conduct his meeting with President Trump on Wednesday and depart on Thursday for Israel. He is expected to be back in Israel by Friday morning at the latest.
The prime minister’s military secretary, Maj.-Gen. Roman Gofman, and acting director of the National Security Council (NSC) Gil Reich, are expected to accompany him on the trip to Washington.
Netanyahu says his 7 meetings w Trump in the last year reflect the “unique closeness we have with the U.S.”
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) February 10, 2026
He says U.S.-Iran talks are top of the agenda, and the meeting is important “for anyone who wants peace and security in the Middle East.” pic.twitter.com/uZWWrBXvWZ
According to reports in Hebrew media, one of the reasons Netanyahu moved up the meeting with President Trump was to present him with the latest Israeli intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missiles, support for proxies, and the internal repression in Iran. While Netanyahu gave some of this information to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff last week, he wants to present it directly to the president.
During the meeting, Netanyahu is expected to present Israel's demands for an agreement between the United States and Iran, which include: a pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons, zero enrichment in Iran, the removal of the highly enriched uranium from Iran, limiting Iran’s ballistic missile range to 300 kilometers (nearly 187 miles), ending support for terror proxies, and open inspections of the nuclear sites.
Recent statements by the U.S. president, which seemed to indicate Washington is only focusing on Iran’s nuclear program, caused concern in Israel that other vital security interests are being ignored, in particular, Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Netanyahu has repeatedly warned in the past that Iran is developing missiles that will one day be able to reach not only Israel but also the United States. In an interview with Jewish-American conservative commentator Ben Shapiro last October, he warned, “Iran is developing now ballistic missiles that are intercontinental ballistic missiles for 8,000-kilometer (4,971 miles) range.”
“What does that mean? They add another 3,000 km, and they’ve got under their gun - under the atomic guns - New York City in target, Washington, Boston, Miami, Mar-A-Lago,” Netanyahu told Shapiro. “So that is a very great danger. You don’t want to be under the nuclear gun of these people, who are not necessarily rational, and who chant ‘Death to America.’”
While most analysts believe that the Israeli demands would be rejected by the Islamic Republic, there is widespread agreement that the U.S. and Israel could use that rejection as a pretext for a strike.
The Iranian government reacted negatively to Netanyahu's trip to Washington, saying it hopes the U.S. does not respond to "destructive influences."
“Our negotiating party is America. It is up to America to decide to act independently of the pressures and destructive influences that are detrimental to the region,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said in a weekly press briefing. “The Zionist regime has repeatedly, as a saboteur, shown that it opposes any diplomatic process in our region that leads to peace."
Just ahead of his departure, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to reporters from the Ben Gurion International Airport.
"I am now leaving for the United States for my seventh trip to meet with President Trump since he was elected for a second term," Netanyahu said. "This, of course, does not include his unforgettable visit to Israel and his speech in the Knesset"
Netanyahu the visits "reflect the unique closeness of the extraordinary relationship that we have with the United States, that I personally have with the President, that the State of Israel has with the United States – unprecedented in our history."
The prime minister also said that during his meeing with Trump, the two leaders "will discuss a range of issues: Gaza, the region, but of course, first and foremost, the negotiations with Iran."
"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."
The next round of negotiations between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic is expected to take place only after the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
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