WASHINGTON — When President Donald Trump took office in January, he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were closely aligned on how to approach the most pressing issues in their relationship: the war in Gaza and aggression from Iran.
Trump lifted a hold the Biden administration had put on sending large bombs to Israel. He encouraged Israeli military operations “to finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza. He agreed with Netanyahu on confronting Iran and its proxy groups in the region.
But in recent weeks, the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu has become strained as the two leaders are increasingly at odds over a strategy for tackling these challenges now that Hamas has been significantly degraded and Iran weakened, according to two U.S. officials, two Middle Eastern diplomats and two other people with knowledge of the tensions.
Where Netanyahu sees an opportunity to finally take out Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump sees an opportunity to remove the threat of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon by making a deal. As Israel hits Gaza with a new military offensive, Trump is pushing for a ceasefire and looking to implement his postwar plan for rebuilding the area into a “Riviera of the Middle East.” And after Trump halted the U.S. military campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi militant group, a shocked Netanyahu said Israel would then defend itself.
The recent differences between the two leaders on key strategies and positions has put Trump’s relationship with one of America’s closest allies at a bit of a crossroads. How they navigate their disagreements going forward will shape the outcome of some of the core components of the president’s foreign policy agenda.
Twice in just this past week alone, Trump made public comments that rankled Netanyahu, the two U.S. officials, the two Middle Eastern diplomats and two other people with knowledge of the tensions said.
Netanyahu was particularly upset when Trump said Wednesday that he had yet to decide whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium under a new nuclear deal his administration is negotiating, the two U.S. officials said. A top adviser to Netanyahu, Ron Dermer, conveyed that message to Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, during a meeting at the White House on Thursday, according to one of the U.S. officials.
For his part, Trump has been frustrated with Netanyahu’s decision to begin a new military offensive in Gaza, which the president sees as at odds with his plan for rebuilding there, according to one of the U.S. officials and one of the people familiar with the tensions between the two leaders.
Privately, Trump has said the new Israeli offensive in Gaza is a wasted effort because it will make it harder to rebuild, according to those two sources.
The U.S. is currently pushing Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, which Dermer was set to discuss with Witkoff during his White House visit this week, according to the Middle Eastern diplomats and a senior Trump administration official.
But Trump’s approach to Iran has been the biggest point of contention for Netanyahu.
The Israeli leader has been frustrated for weeks with Trump’s refusal to support military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and his decision to instead try to reach a deal aimed at blocking Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, according to the two U.S. officials, the two Middle Eastern diplomats and two other people with knowledge of the tensions.
“They’re worried about any deal,” one of the U.S. officials said of the Israelis.
Israel has made clear to the U.S. that it does not want Trump to cut a nuclear deal that leaves Iran with any uranium enrichment capabilities, the U.S. officials and Middle Eastern diplomats said. Trump has expressed an openness to Iran maintaining a civilian nuclear program.
“We haven’t made that decision yet,” Trump said Wednesday when asked if the U.S. position is that Iran can have a uranium enrichment program for civilian nuclear purposes.
“Israel has had no better friend in its history than President Trump,” James Hewitt, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a statement responding to this story. “We continue to work closely with our ally Israel to ensure remaining hostages in Gaza are freed, Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, and to strengthen regional security in the Middle East. As he has repeatedly stated in his first and second terms, the president is committed to ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.”
A third U.S. official said the president’s team has communicated with Israeli officials regularly about the status of negotiations with Iran, providing updates and coordinating on elements of a potential deal.
Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Trump has his own agenda’
Netanyahu was blindsided — and infuriated — this past week by Trump’s announcement that the U.S. was halting its military campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen after the Houthis agreed to stop firing on U.S. ships in the Red Sea, according to one of the U.S. officials and the two Middle East diplomats.
The Houthis had just attacked Israel with a missile that hit close to Ben Gurion, Israel’s main airport.
When Netanyahu visited the White House last month, for the second time since Trump took office, he hoped the president would pledge U.S. air support for a possible Israeli operation against Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to the two Middle Eastern diplomats. The Israeli leader was taken aback when the president instead announced he would agree to direct talks with Tehran, the diplomats said.
Netanyahu has privately said he thinks Trump’s negotiations with Iran are a waste of time because Tehran will never hold up its end of any deal, according to the two U.S. officials. Israel has argued that Iran is so weakened by economic sanctions and the degradation of its proxies in the region that now is an ideal moment to take out its nuclear facilities, and it is concerned the window for doing so is closing while the U.S. negotiates, the officials said.
Adding to that concern about timing, Israeli military strikes crippled Iranian strategic air defenses in October, meaning manned aircraft conducting new strikes now would not be as susceptible to being shot down. But the Iranians are rebuilding their air defenses.
Republican Sens. Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham said this week that the only acceptable Iran deal is one that completely stops Tehran from any uranium enrichment. They also urged Trump to submit any Iran nuclear deal to the Senate for ratification, which requires a two-thirds majority vote.
Asked about Cotton and Graham’s comments, a fourth U.S. official said Witkoff is in “constant contact” with Graham about Iran negotiations and briefed Cotton on them this past week.
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal reached by President Barack Obama was not ratified by the Senate, which allowed Trump to simply withdraw the U.S. from the agreement during his first term.
“I think what you’re seeing is the Israelis recognizing that as much as they welcomed the election of President Trump and thought that would really give them a blank check to pursue whatever agenda they wanted, Trump has his own agenda,” Frank Lowenstein, a former Middle East envoy under the Obama administration, said during a virtual briefing organized by J Street, an advocacy organization that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace.
Although Trump’s diplomacy with Iran and the U.S. deal with the Houthis are “anathema” to Netanyahu, the prime minister does not have the political leverage in Washington or Israel to enter into a direct confrontation with Trump, who is popular with Netanyahu’s base in Israel, said Ilan Goldenberg, who worked on Middle East policy as a senior official during the Biden and Obama administrations.
Netanyahu’s “whole political strategy and survival strategy is based on holding his coalition and holding his political base together,” Goldenberg said in the briefing organized by J Street. “And those folks love Trump, so for him to go very publicly against Trump is something he really can’t do.”
The strain in the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu comes as the president is set to travel to the Middle East next week, with stops scheduled in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Trump is not currently scheduled to visit Israel on this trip, though he did during his first term.
Witkoff also planned to attend another round of negotiations with Iran this weekend in Oman.
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