"I heard Bibi (Netanyahu) announce this matter. I said, why didn’t you tell me directly, why announce it to the whole world?" said US President Trump hours before meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
According to Fox News in the United States, when asked about reports suggesting Netanyahu planned to share intelligence on Iran's nuclear reconstruction plans, Trump said, "I don't need Biebi to tell me these things. He tells me these things because he wants me to continue to be involved."
Trump said that the United States is keeping a close eye on Iran's nuclear program.
Fox News believes that Trump's statements against Netanyahu have posed a challenge, and it has also downplayed the pressure to escalate the war with Iran. This highlights the tense relationship between the two.
A Israeli source said that Israel believes “Trump has little interest in resuming full combat, at least until the US elections in November.”
American Cable News Network (CNN) analyzed the significant shift in bilateral relations under the title "Why This Time, Netanyahu and Trump's Meeting May Not Proceed According to the Script?"
On October 13, 2025, at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (former) and visiting U.S. President Trump traveled together in the same vehicle.
According to an American official and a Israeli source, who told CNN, Netanyahu has been trying for several weeks to obtain a invitation from the White House to discuss the latest developments in the war against Iran, and to persuade Trump not to make concessions in diplomatic negotiations.
Trump initially did not wish to meet, and some White House officials were also dissatisfied with Israel's attempt to facilitate the meeting by providing media coverage. An American official said that Israel seemed to want to use the media to “turn this meeting into a fait accompli.” This week, the funeral of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham provided an opportunity for the two to meet, but this conversation was merely a side event within the larger ceremony.
According to several officials, Trump is well aware of the political pressure that Netanyahu faces before the Israeli elections in October. He also understands that his support for this Israeli prime minister could be crucial. Realizing the existence of this leverage, Trump selectively demonstrated his support. For example, last week, after New York Mayor Bloomberg initially refused to withdraw the promise made during the campaign to arrest Netanyahu, Trump stated that Netanyahu would not be arrested if he visited the United States.
Although in public, Trump did not entirely attribute the current difficulties to Netanyahu. However, he described Netanyahu as “crazy” because Netanyahu continued to launch air strikes in Lebanon, threatening the US-Iran ceasefire agreement. He also harshly criticized Netanyahu over the phone, because Netanyahu deviated from the war goals set by Trump.
“Netanyahu is now acting like a troublemaker, right? This war has lasted for about five and a half months, and there’s still no clear solution,” said a former official who wished to remain anonymous, talking about the developments surrounding this meeting with Politico. “Trump may be attributing some of the blame to Netanyahu, either publicly or privately, or linking him to certain bad things. It’s not necessarily his fault, but he’s been involved in this situation. The president is very upset about this.”
This strategic divergence is not limited to the Iranian issue.
The Israel Times quoted an Israeli 13th channel TV report, which said the U.S. hoped for Israel to withdraw from Syria, Lebanon and Gaza Strip, but Netanyahu stated that he will refuse this request.
There are also two sensitive issues: Trump may sell stealth fighter jets, the F-35, to Turkey, and the US has reached a civil nuclear energy cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Israeli officials are concerned that the former might weaken Israel's military advantage in the region, while the latter could trigger a regional nuclear arms race.
On September 29, 2025, at the White House in Washington, D.C., the President of the United States, Donald Trump (right), held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli government's press office reported this.
"The American Conservative" magazine executive director Curt Miller described this meeting as "high-stakes readiness".
Mills said, “Netanyahu will advocate for further escalation of the situation. In other words, if Trump is unwilling to give the Memorandum of Understanding a chance, and unwilling to completely withdraw from this conflict before the issues are resolved, then I believe the situation is likely to escalate further. And that’s exactly what we’ve seen over the past few weeks.”
A Israeli source said, “Netanyahu wants to shift the focus from war to other issues—such as security agreements, potential normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia, and ensuring that he can coordinate with Trump during the election period, so that these achievements can be used in the campaign.” The source also said that Netanyahu believes direct communication with Trump can bypass the divisions within the U.S. government.
For Netanyahu, this visit is of unprecedented importance. According to the latest polls, he still has a significant gap from the majority required to win re-election in October's elections. Trump has long been one of his most important political assets in the campaign. It is crucial for Netanyahu to demonstrate that he still has influence in Washington. He still hopes that Trump will visit Israel before the elections to support him in the campaign.
An Israeli official said that arranging this meeting with Trump took a considerable amount of time, and initially “he was blocked from attending”. It is not clear who stopped the meeting. It wasn’t until Netanyahu announced that he would attend Graham’s funeral that the meeting was finally confirmed.
It is worth noting that there were no arrangements for a public photo shoot during their meeting. Similarly, their meeting in February this year was also closed to media coverage, as both parties were working on sensitive military plans related to warfare.
CNN believes that this low-key arrangement may be either trying to cover up a next military action against Iran, or trying to conceal the tensions and differences surrounding the next round of cease-fire negotiations.
