After ‘very good’ phone call, Trump says he and Netanyahu are ‘on same side of every issue’

Trump described a phone call with Netanyahu that covered “numerous subjects, including trade, Iran, etc…”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

After a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to declare both of them “are on the same side of every issue.”

The call covered “numerous subjects, including trade, Iran, etc.,” Trump wrote, adding that it went “very well.”

Trump did not include further details, and there was no mention of the Gaza war or the release of the remaining 59 hostages.

The call was the first since Netanyahu flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump following the president’s announcement that he would levy a 17% tariff on Israeli goods, which he has since delayed for 90 days.

Instead, during Netanyahu’s visit, Trump announced that the US would pursue nuclear talks with Iran.

Last week, Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Rome for a second round of talks, and the White House reported that they were “very good.”

Although Netanyahu has insisted that Iran should never be allowed to develop a nuclear bomb, Trump administration officials have at times suggested that they might be open to allowing Iran to retain its nuclear facilities, provided the country complies with stringent limits on uranium enrichment—similar to the restrictions outlined in the 2015 agreement brokered under ex-president Barack Obama.

A statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Wednesday cited “countless overt and covert” operations to subvert Iran’s plans to build a nuclear bomb, but he did not deny that US President Donald Trump had canceled Israel’s plans to strike Iran.

“For more than a decade, Prime Minister Netanyahu has spearheaded the international effort to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions even as others downplayed the danger, dismissing it as ‘political spin’ and branding the prime minister as ‘paranoid,'” the statement said.

According to the statement, the prime minister’s firm stance against Iran, even in the face of opposition, has prevented the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear bomb. “As the prime minister has stated repeatedly, Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.”

The Israeli prime minister “has led countless overt and covert operations in the campaign against Iran’s nuclear program; it is only due to these operations that Iran does not currently possess a nuclear arsenal,” the statement continues. “These actions have delayed Iran’s nuclear program by approximately a decade, thanks to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s persistence in withstanding great opposition both at home and abroad to his vigorous policy toward Iran.”

Donald TrumpIran nuclear dealNetanyahuUS-Israel relations