WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump had a tense exchange with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday after the US leader called off a planned attack against Iran, three sources said.
Netanyahu is reportedly disappointed by Trump’s decision to pause military action and continue pursuing diplomacy as they discussed a new effort to reach a deal with Iran, with one source saying Netanyahu’s “hair was on fire” after the call.
Netanyahu is highly skeptical about the negotiations and wants to resume the war to further degrade Iran’s military capabilities and weaken the regime by destroying its critical infrastructure.
Trump told Netanyahu that the mediators were working on a “letter of intent” that both the US and Iran would sign to formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations on issues like Iran’s nuclear program and opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the news portal Axios quoted a US source briefed on the call as saying.
When the two leaders spoke on Sunday, Trump shared that he was likely to move forward with new targeted attacks on Iran early in the week, the official said – an operation that was expected to get a new name: Operation Sledgehammer.
But roughly 24 hours after that initial conversation, Trump announced he was halting strikes that he said were planned for Tuesday at the request of allies in the Gulf, includingSaudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
In the days since, the Gulf nations have been in close contact with White House and Pakistani mediators in working on a framework that could further diplomatic talks, the US official and a person familiar with the situation said.
According to two Arab officials and an Israeli source, Qatar recently presented the US and Iran with a new draft. A fourth source said there is no separate Qatari draft, but that Qatar is just trying to bridge the gaps from the previous Pakistani proposal.
“We’re in the final stages of Iran. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday morning about efforts to secure a deal.
“We’ll either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty,” he went on. “But hopefully that won’t happen.”
The ongoing negotiations have frustrated the Israeli prime minister, who has long advocated for a more aggressive approach in dealing with Tehran. Netanyahu has argued that a delay only benefits the Iranians, according to Trump officials and Israeli sources.
Netanyahu made his disappointment known on Tuesday, telling Trump that he believed delaying the expected attacks was a mistake, and that the president should continue as planned, the US official said.
During the hour-long conversation, Netanyahu pushed for a resumption of military action, an Israeli source familiar said. The divergence was clear: Trump wants to see if a deal can be reached, but Netanyahu was expecting something else, an Israeli official said.
The Israeli concern after the Tuesday phone call extended to officials around Netanyahu, another Israeli source told CNN.
There is a strong desire in the upper echelons of the Israeli government for renewed military action, this source said, and mounting frustration that Trump is continuing to allow what they say is Iran’s diplomatic foot-dragging.
But Netanyahu’s frustration with the US approach, specifically Trump making threats only to eventually press pause, is not entirely new, sources familiar with their conversations said. US officials in the past have acknowledged differing objectives between the US and Israel when it comes to the war.
Asked what he told the prime minister the night before, Trump suggested Wednesday he’s in the driver’s seat.
“He’ll do whatever I want him to do,” the US president said.
And despite Netanyahu’s pressure to return to active combat, Trump, for now, has continued to push for a diplomatic agreement, claiming Wednesday that things with Iran are “right on the borderline” and that it’s worth giving diplomacy a few more days if it saves lives.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday that Tehran and Washington have continued to exchange messages through Pakistan, according to the state-affiliated Nour News outlet.
“Based on Iran’s initial 14-point text, messages have been exchanged on several occasions, and we have received the American side’s viewpoints and are currently reviewing them,” spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.
Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir will travel to Tehran on Thursday as part of ongoing mediation efforts between the US and Iran, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
Pakistan has played a central role in working to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, including hosting high-level, face-to-face talks between US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in April.
Source: Saudi Gazette