Netanyahu denies ‘intensive’ talks with Mike Waltz over Tehran

The statement came on the backdrop of a Washington Post report that suggested that the president was upset at Waltz over his hawkish stance on Iran, favoring military action against the Islamic Republic versus diplomacy.

By JNS

Contrary to reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not have “intensive contact” with outgoing U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Saturday evening.

“Netanyahu had a warm meeting with Mike Waltz and [U.S. Special Envoy] Steve Witkoff at Blair House in February prior to the Prime Minister’s meeting with President [Donald] Trump at the White House,” the statement posted to X further read.

“Mike Waltz also joined [Vice President] JD Vance in a meeting with the [prime minister] before leaving Washington,” it continued.

Since then, Netanyahu and Waltz had one phone call with Witkoff that did not deal with Iran, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The statement came on the backdrop of a Washington Post report that suggested that the president was upset at Waltz over his hawkish stance on Iran, favoring military action against the Islamic Republic versus diplomacy. Trump has now nominated Waltz to be ambassador to the United Nations.

Waltz appeared to share Netanyahu’s conviction that it is high time to strike Iran, two top officials with knowledge of the matter told the Post on condition of anonymity.

The former national security advisor held “intense” conversations with the Israeli premier ahead of the latter’s visit to Washington in February, the report claimed.

Waltz “wanted to take U.S. policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the U.S. hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution,” said one of the unnamed officials.

“It got back to Trump and the president wasn’t happy with it,” this official went on to say.

A Trump adviser told the Post, “If [former U.S. Secretary of State] Jim Baker was doing a side deal with the Saudis to subvert George H.W. Bush, you’d be fired. You can’t do that. You work for the president of your country, not a president of another country.”

Responding to a request for comment, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said, “The president sets the agenda and it’s up to his administration to implement those policies, and everyone was rowing in the same direction, which is why he had the most successful first 100 days in history.”

The report further suggested that the generational shift within the Republican Party has enabled Trump to nominate figures who share his views, contrary to his first term when he had little choice but to fill the roles in his administration from more traditional Republican circles.

In April, Trump called off an Israeli plan to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities after he decided to favor a route of diplomatic talks, The New York Times reported at the time.

Trump’s decision came “after months of internal debate” about whether to pursue a military or diplomatic option. Even hawkish members of Trump’s Cabinet expressed skepticism that a military strike could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions, resulting in a “rough consensus” that for the time being negotiation was the better option, the Times reported.

Meanwhile, Tehran postponed its participation in a fourth round of indirect talks with the United States that was set to take place on Saturday.

“U.S. sanctions on Iran during the nuclear talks are not helping the sides to resolve the nuclear dispute through diplomacy,” an unnamed Iranian official said of the Islamic Republic’s decision to cancel the negotiations in Rome, according to Reuters.

“Depending on the U.S. approach, the date of the next round of talks will be announced,” the official stated, according to the wire agency’s report.

Oman, which hosted two previous sessions of the U.S.-Iran talks in Muscat, had said on Thursday that the next round of nuclear talks planned for May 3 would be rescheduled for “logistical reasons.”

However, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Washington had not confirmed its participation in the fourth round of talks in Rome.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump warned that all purchases of Iranian oil must stop, threatening to impose sanctions on “any country or person who buys ANY AMOUNT of OIL or PETROCHEMICALS.”