‘No Iran strikes for now; end the Gaza War’, President Trump said to have told PM Netanyahu

U.S. President Donald Trump opposed military strikes against Iran for now and told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should strive to end the war against Hamas in Gaza quickly and permanently, according to media reports.

The new revelations followed a surprise phone call on Monday between the leaders, which came before Trump convened a strategy session on the Middle East with his foreign policy team in Camp David.

On Tuesday, Israeli media outlets characterized the 40-minute-long discussion as “tense,” as Netanyahu is reportedly pushing for military action against the Iranian nuclear program despite the ongoing U.S.-Iran talks, while the Gaza War doesn’t seem close to wrapping up.

Regarding Iran, Channel 12 reported that Trump did not clearly state whether Israel would receive a green light to strike on its own, or whether Washington would take an active role. In any case, Trump asserted that discussions over strikes would be held only once he had determined that the talks had failed.

Trump wants to continue the negotiations, according to the report, despite Washington's dissatisfaction with Iran’s conduct and their latest responses.

Netanyahu told Trump that “the negotiations with Iran are futile, Iran is playing you and all it’s trying to do is to gain time,” Kan News reported. “Your statements about an attack on Iran aren’t helping. We’re working on a deal,” Trump reportedly responded.

Despite the reports of disagreements, Trump told reporters after the call that Iran continues to pose demands that are “just not acceptable,” particularly uranium enrichment, which is also a red line for Jerusalem.

Jason Brodsky, Iran expert for the think tank United Against Nuclear Iran, counseled the Trump administration not to let itself “get boxed in by Iran's regime's ‘red lines’ as the Obama administration did by signing up for a bad deal that collapsed.”

“It's not the U.S. which faces an energy crisis, an economic crisis, a deterrence crisis, and a crisis of confidence between state and society. But Iran is facing such challenges. It doesn't have the cards. The U.S. does and it should start acting like it,” Brodsky wrote on 𝕏.

Ahead of the Camp David meeting on Monday, a senior U.S. official told the news outlet Axios that Trump saw the Iran nuclear issue and the Gaza War, both areas where U.S. policy has faced setbacks recently, as being interconnected.

Regarding Gaza, Trump is said to have expressed dissatisfaction with the “Witkoff proposal” that is currently being discussed. It envisions a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for around 10 hostages, but wouldn’t include a permanent end to the war.

A quick and permanent end would energize both the nuclear discussions with Iran as well as diplomatic negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Trump reportedly said.

Israeli leaders have expressed increasing skepticism regarding U.S. efforts for a negotiated agreement with Iran, as well as the role of U.S.-ally Qatar in the hostage negotiations.

These were echoed by U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, in a recent podcast appearance at the Free Press.

Regarding White House envoy Steve Witkoff’s negotiation efforts, Huckabee said, “I have a lot of doubt about whether… negotiations with people who are inherently sponsoring evil things are going to be trustworthy to do the right thing, the best thing, and the good thing when it really comes down to it.”

On Tuesday, outgoing US CENTCOM commander Gen. Erik Kurilla, seen as a friend of Israel and an important military ally, told the House Armed Services Committee he had provided the president and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “with a wide range of options” for military action in case the negotiations falter.

However, he also said that U.S. troops in the region would be in danger of Iranian retaliation if Israel decided to launch a strike against the nuclear program.