President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s latest meeting comes as the U.S. has paused strikes in Iran as the two sides negotiate.
Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The recent pause in fighting with Iran is over. Iran launched a surprise attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East just before 6 p.m. Eastern time. That, according to U.S. Central Command. All the missiles were intercepted.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Then American and Saudi forces said they attacked Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, a rare show of force by Saudi Arabia in this conflict. This all happened the same day President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Netanyahu wanted to use his meeting with Trump to repair their strained relationship.
MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is here to tell us about that. Good morning, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: You know, at the beginning of the war, there really was no daylight between these two leaders. How far away from that point in the relationship are we now, five months later?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, I’d say pretty far. I mean, it was only a couple weeks ago that Trump was calling the prime minister crazy. And ahead of yesterday’s meeting, Trump actually expressed some frustration with Netanyahu. You know, Fox News asked Trump about the Israelis presenting evidence with Iran rebuilding its military capabilities at Pickaxe Mountain.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi’s telling me that ’cause he wants me to stay involved.
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. Trump went on to say this as well.
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TRUMP: Because of Space Force, we have the greatest cameras in the world focused on – we know exactly what’s going on. But, no, I heard Bibi announce that. I said, why wouldn’t you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?
ORDOÑEZ: You know, Michel, I’ll just add that Trump did not appear publicly with Netanyahu, which is notable. But Netanyahu did release a statement calling it an excellent meeting with shared goals.
MARTIN: That said, Franco, there have been periods of public disagreement before between these two. Is this different now?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, I mean, I think the stakes are different. I mean, the two sides launched a war together that Trump widely believed and told the public would be relatively quick and easy. I mean, it’s now five months in, and there’s no end in sight. Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution told me that the relationship is very complicated tactically.
MICHAEL O’HANLON: They’re making a lot of decisions and disagreeing on a lot of decisions about when to strike what. And there’s obviously the legacy of the last six months, where President Trump, despite his denials, may feel like he got dragged into this a little bit by a Netanyahu who was too optimistic about what we could accomplish.
ORDOÑEZ: Now, O’Hanlon says there’s no fundamental rupture. They’re still cooperative. But again, more complicated because neither side seems to know how to end the war. Israel has one theory, and Trump has another.
MARTIN: And it seems clear that the two sides have different priorities. Like, what are those differences?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. Israel wants to keep fighting. Now, it argues it still faces major threats from Iran and Hezbollah and Lebanon and wants to further weaken both. Israel also doesn’t want Trump to sign a deal that could limit its ability to defend itself. Now, Trump supports Israel’s security but is focused on ending what is a very unpopular war, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and easing rising prices, especially gas prices.
MARTIN: Despite their differences, do the two still need each other for some reason?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. Very much so. I mean, Netanyahu continues to need U.S. military cooperation and diplomatic support on a bunch of fronts. He’s also facing an election in the coming months, and his relationship to the U.S. is very crucial.
Now, Trump has his own political considerations. Israel is still the U.S.’ closest security partner in the region and, despite some cooling by some factions, maintains a lot of support from much of his own party. And he needs Israel for one of his primary foreign policy objectives, and that’s expanding the Abraham Accords – the agreement that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries.
MARTIN: That is White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Franco, thank you.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Michel.
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