Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday for the first time since the start of the Iran war, over which they have publicly disagreed.
Relations between Netanyahu and Trump have occasionally appeared strained in recent months, but both have sought to tone things down.
Tuesday’s meeting is expected to be dominated by the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, as Washington says it wants to give negotiations a chance.
Israel has not taken part in the latest round of hostilities between the United States and Iran, which flared earlier this month after an April ceasefire collapsed.
Tuesday’s meeting will be the eighth between the leaders since Trump’s return to office last year, as well as their first in-person talks since the war began.
“This is a great privilege, but it is also a great responsibility,” Netanyahu said before departing Israel on Monday.
“We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, first and foremost Iran. Naturally, our goal is to safeguard our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us,” he added.
Relations between the two leaders reached a low point in April during negotiations on the ceasefire, with Trump unleashing profanity-laced tirades against his Israeli ally.
Trump later described Netanyahu in an interview as a “very difficult guy”.
Netanyahu downplayed the exchanges as “tactical disagreements”, saying they were aligned on the goals of the war.
On Tuesday, the leaders are expected to discuss the implementation of a US-sponsored framework deal signed by Israel and Lebanon last month, whose application on the ground has been challenging.
The talks are also expected to touch on Gaza, as diplomatic efforts to kickstart the devastated Palestinian territory’s reconstruction are at a standstill.
Nearly three years after the war between Israel and Hamas broke out, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, and Israel continues to regularly target people the military says are militants.
