President Trump had a candid phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday about the status of U.S. negotiations with Iran and how quickly to return to fighting, according to an Israeli and U.S. source.
Why it’s important: The sources said Netanyahu was pressuring Trump to strike Iran immediately after Tuesday’s midterm elections. But Trump, for now, wants to let the negotiations play out — a strategy that worries Netanyahu.
- The Israeli source said the call was “harsh,” while the American source called it “direct.”
- The White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment.
Driving the news: As he did before Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 and Operation Epic Fury in February, Trump is pursuing a dual path: trying to reach an agreement to restart peace talks while preparing for a possible resumption of major combat operations after the midterms.
- Last week, Vice President Vance sent a letter to Iran’s national security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, regarding the possibility of resuming negotiations. This is the largest outreach effort by the United States to Iran in several months.
- Trump told reporters Saturday that negotiations with Iran are “going well” and noted that he is not in “a lot of rush.”
- While the Iranians want to make a deal, the president said they “are not very reliable. … They make a deal and then they walk away.”
- At the same time, Trump said the United States still needs to “take care” of one or two nuclear sites in Iran.
- “We can do it in 10 minutes. We planned for this. You can look at Pickaxe Mountain. We have to take care of it. We can do it very quickly,” Trump said, referring to a suspected nuclear site built into a mountain.
- The Wall Street Journal was first to report the Trump-Netanyahu call, but did not describe its content.
State of play: Qatari mediators met with Iranian officials for the third consecutive day on Sunday in an effort to reach an agreement to restart direct negotiations between the United States and Iran.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that there was no agreement yet and stressed that a deal depends on the United States responding to Iran’s questions.
- “We are making every effort in this regard and hope that the other side will be rational enough to choose diplomacy over other paths,” he said.
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