Report: Israel fears US secretly negotiating end to war with Iran

Israeli intelligence raised concerns about possible US-Iran contacts.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned the White House over concerns that the Trump administration was holding secret talks with Iran aimed at ending the war, sources told Axios.

The outlet reported that two insiders with firsthand knowledge of the conversations said Netanyahu was worried Washington would move to end the conflict and return to the negotiating table.

The concern stemmed from information obtained by Israeli intelligence suggesting there had been communication between Washington and Tehran.

A source told Axios that U.S. officials assured Netanyahu that no such talks were taking place.

“The White House told Bibi [Netanyahu] that the Trump administration wasn’t talking to the Iranians behind his back,” the source said.

Another source said indirect messages had been sent from Iran to the United States via Gulf countries, but that Washington did not engage.

“We treated these messages as” nonsense, the U.S. official told Axios.

An American official stressed the close coordination between the United States and Israel on Iran policy, saying the lead American negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were in frequent contact with senior Israeli officials.

The source said Witkoff and Kushner speak with Netanyahu and Mossad chief David Barnea on a near-daily basis.

Israel knows that Trump administration officials “are not talking to the Iranians,” the source said.

In a media conference Tuesday, an American official explicitly stated that Witkoff and Kushner “haven’t had any conversation with Ali Larijani, Abbas Araghchi or anyone else in the Iranian regime since the war started.”

The White House and the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment when asked by Axios.

On his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump stressed that the Iranians had squandered their opportunity for a diplomatic solution.

“Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said ‘Too Late!'” Trump wrote.