President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, where Netanyahu is expected to push for broader US talks with Iran that go beyond its nuclear programme. He wants any agreement to also restrict Tehran’s ballistic missiles and its support for armed proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
This will be their seventh meeting since Trump returned to office just over a year ago, and it follows indirect US Iran talks in Oman last week. Trump has warned he could order strikes on Iran if there is no deal, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, raising fears of a wider regional war.
Trump told US media that a good agreement would mean no nuclear weapons and no missiles for Iran and said he is considering sending a second US aircraft carrier strike group to the region. Israel worries Washington might settle for a narrow nuclear deal that ignores missiles and Iranian backed militias. Netanyahu said he will present Israel’s view of the principles that should guide the negotiations and could also discuss possible military options if diplomacy fails.
Iran says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes and insists its missile capabilities are non negotiable. Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, repeated on Wednesday that missiles will not be part of the talks.
Gaza will also be high on the agenda. Trump is trying to revive a 20 point plan he helped broker to end the war and rebuild the territory, but progress has stalled over issues such as Hamas disarming and the pace of Israeli troop withdrawals. The White House said it wants to accelerate work on the Gaza peace deal and strengthen regional security.
The meeting comes after the United States joined Israel in strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during a 12 day conflict last June, which also damaged Iran’s air defences and missile stockpiles. US officials say Iran’s regional influence has been weakened by those attacks and by losses suffered by its allies in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
Despite close ties, the talks could expose differences between Trump and Netanyahu. Part of Trump’s Gaza plan raises the prospect of eventual Palestinian statehood, an idea Netanyahu and his right wing coalition strongly oppose. Tensions have also grown after Israel moved to ease land purchases by settlers and expand its powers in the occupied West Bank, drawing international criticism.
Trump said he remains against formal annexation of West Bank territory and that he already has enough issues to handle. Both leaders, however, are expected to highlight their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and reshaping regional security in Israel’s favour.
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