President Trump took a barrage of questions from reporters Monday afternoon during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said the U.S. would hold direct talks with Iran, is working on a new ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and told Netanyahu to “be reasonable” amid spiraling tensions with Turkey.
Netanyahu arrived Monday in Washington for a hastily arranged visit at Trump’s insistence, but he said little as Trump fielded questions from reporters on a range of topics.
Still, Netanyahu issued concern over the danger Turkey poses to Israel, said Iran should give up its nuclear weapons aspirations, and appealed to negotiate away Trump’s tariffs on the country.
Here are five takeaways from the meeting:
Iran talks set for Saturday
Trump said the U.S. would hold direct talks starting Saturday with Iran over its nuclear weapons programs. Trump did not name the U.S. officials participating or say where the meeting would take place, but he said it was a “high-level” delegation.
The talks mark the first concrete effort at diplomacy toward Tehran during Trump’s second term.
Netanyahu reportedly wants the U.S. to greenlight a military operation to wipe out Iran’s nuclear facilities — a risky operation that experts and U.S. officials say is both practically difficult and unlikely to prevent the Islamic Republic from eventually developing a nuclear weapon.
Trump warned Iran would be “in great danger” if talks are not successful.
US ‘looking at another ceasefire’ in Gaza
Trump said the U.S. is working to get hostages released by Hamas and put in place a new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Israel restarted military operations in Gaza last month amid the breakdown of a ceasefire with Hamas that was in place since Jan. 19.
“We’re looking at another ceasefire. We’ll see what happens. But we have, we want to get the hostages out.”
Hamas still holds 59 people it kidnapped from southern Israel during its terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, although Israel believes that 24 of those people are alive: 22 Israelis, one Thai and one Nepali. American-Israeli Edan Alexander, who was serving in the Israeli military when he was kidnapped, is believed to be alive.
Netanyahu said he is committed to getting all the hostages out but also eliminating Hamas in Gaza. He again expressed his support for Trump’s plan to impose U.S. control over the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to relocate out of the territory.
“Having a peace force like the United States there, controlling and owning the Gaza Strip, would be a good thing,” Trump said.
Netanyahu wants tariff solution ‘very quickly’
Among the areas of daylight between Trump and Netanyahu was the president’s decision last week to impose 17 percent reciprocal tariffs on Israel.
Netanyahu was the first world leader to visit Trump and push for negotiations to eliminate the president’s global tariffs. He pledged that Israel would eliminate the trade deficit with the U.S. and eliminate trade barriers, in an effort to avoid Trump’s tariffs.
“I hope to bring a solution very quickly,” Netanyahu said.
At one point, Trump appeared to raise U.S. military assistance to Israel as potential leverage amid trade negotiations.
“We’re talking about a whole new trade — maybe not, maybe not — don’t forget we help Israel a lot, you know, we give Israel $4 billion a year, that’s a lot. Congratulations by the way,” he said, turning to Netanyahu. Trump added, “We do take care of our friends.”
But Trump insisted that he is not considering a pause on the tariffs. And the president doubled down on his threat to impose an additional 50 percent tariff on China, on what is already a 54 percent tariff on all imported goods, following Beijing’s announcement of a 34 percent tariff on American imports.
Trump says he will ‘work out’ Turkey-Israel tensions
Another thorny issue for Netanyahu is Trump’s relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Netanyahu accused Erdoğan of using Syria as a base of attack against Israel, but said Trump could serve as an important mediator.
“We discussed how we can avoid this conflict in a variety of ways, and I think we can’t have a better interlocutor than the president of the United States,” Netanyahu said.
“Any problem that you have with Turkey, I think I can solve. I mean, as long as you’re reasonable, you have to be reasonable. We have to be reasonable,” Trump said to Netanyahu.
“Bibi, if you have a problem with Turkey, I really think you’re going to be able to work it out,” he added, using Netanyahu’s nickname. You know, I have a very, very good relationship with Turkey and with their leader, and I think we’ll be able to work it out. So I hope that’s not going to be a problem. I don’t think it will be a problem.”
Israel’s bombing campaign in southern Syria is challenging Turkey’s inroads in the country. Erdoğan backed the rebel forces now leading the government in Damascus who succeeded in ousting long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad from power in December.
Ankara has put its support behind the transitional government, made up of officials with the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir-al Sham. Israel remains deeply suspicious of the group, taking military action targeting potential areas of threat and advocating for a demilitarization of the south.
Last week, Israel conducted airstrikes targeting two air bases in Syria where Turkish forces were reportedly preparing to deploy.
Trump ‘not happy’ over Russia-Ukraine fighting
Trump said he’s “not happy” over continued fighting between Russia and Ukraine as his administration has tried to forge a limited ceasefire on energy facilities and Black Sea shipping routes.
Both Russia and Ukraine said they agreed to the ceasefire terms in principle, but Russia has thrown up various conditions that have delayed talks.
“I’m not happy about what’s going on with the bombing, because they’re bombing like crazy right now. They’re bombing — I don’t know what’s happening there, that’s not a good situation,” Trump said.
Trump further said that Russia was exempt from his global reciprocal tariffs “because we’re not going business, essentially, with Russia.”
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Sunday it is “not appropriate” to introduce tariffs on Russia while Washington is in negotiations with Moscow over ending its war in Ukraine.
“There is, obviously, an ongoing negotiation with Russia and Ukraine. And I think the president made the decision not to conflate the two issues,” he said.
However, Ukraine was not spared in the April 2 order, though it faces a relatively light 10 percent tariff on exports to the U.S.
Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.