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President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Monday evening to cement a shared message: the U.S.-Israel alliance has reshaped the Middle East – and more is coming.
“We had tremendous success together,” Trump said during the public portion of their dinner meeting. “And I think it will only go on to be even greater success in the future.”
Trump appeared surprised. “Thank you very much,” he replied. “Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful.”
But behind the symbolism was a serious discussion about Iran, Gaza and what both sides see as an inflection point in regional diplomacy. Trump confirmed that Iran has requested new talks following the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on its nuclear and missile infrastructure. “They want to meet. They want to work something out,” he said. “They’re very different now than they were two weeks ago.”
Netanyahu called the military operation “a historic victory,” adding that it “set back the two tumors that were threatening the life of Israel – the nuclear tumor and the ballistic missile tumor.” But, he warned, “just like a tumor, it can grow back… You have to constantly monitor the situation to make sure that there’s no attempt to bring it back.”
Michael Makovsky, CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), told Fox News Digital that one key goal of the meeting was to define red lines for future action.
“The war with Iran was ended a little abruptly by Trump,” Makovsky said. “The Israelis wanted to continue it a couple more days, or at least until there was an understanding with the U.S. about what would trigger another response.”
According to a new JINSA memo titled Not Over, those triggers could include Iran rebuilding air defenses, diverting enriched uranium or importing advanced missile technology. “We’ve always viewed military action as a campaign, not a one-off,” Makovsky said. “Unfortunately, short of regime collapse in Tehran, this is going to be part of a series.”
Trump, however, emphasized his peacemaking ambitions. “I’m stopping wars,” he said.
He said the Iran strike “turned out… to be obliterated,” and praised the pilots involved: “They flew for 37 hours with zero problem mechanically. The biggest bombs we’ve ever dropped – non-nuclear. And we want to keep it non-nuclear, by the way.”
As Netanyahu put it, “This has already changed the face of the Middle East.” Trump added, “We’re on the way to a lot of great results.”
On Tuesday Netanyahu will meet with the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, R-La.
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