PM to meet Trump in DC this week, says Iran talks must deal with missiles, proxies

Netanyahu slated to fly to Washington Tuesday, be back in Israel by Friday; Witkoff, Kushner tour US aircraft carrier a day after holding talks with Iran’s FM in Oman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss Iran, his office announced Saturday night, a day after US-Iranian talks were held in Oman.

“The prime minister believes that any negotiations must include restrictions on ballistic missiles and an end to support for the Iranian axis,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in its statement announcing the meeting, indicating concerns about the progress of the US-Iran talks thus far.

Netanyahu will depart for Washington on Tuesday, a source with knowledge told The Times of Israel Saturday. He will meet with the president Wednesday morning local time, and depart the US on Thursday, landing back in Israel Friday morning local time, the source said.

The meeting comes as the US and Iran appear set for a second round of nuclear talks, perhaps as soon as the coming days.

Washington and Tehran held the first day of high-level talks in Oman on Friday. The talks focused on Iran’s nuclear program, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said later that it would not give up its right to enrich uranium. Iran’s ballistic missile production was not discussed, sources said.

Netanyahu was originally scheduled to be in Washington from February 18-22, but the meeting was moved a week earlier at the premier’s request, a White House Official told Axios.

This will mark the seventh time Netanyahu has traveled to the US since Trump began his second term in the White House just over a year ago. He last traveled to the US in late December and spent New Year’s Eve at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Expected to join Netanyahu on his trip to the US capital is incoming Israeli Air Force chief Brig. Gen. Omer Tischler, The Times of Israel learned Saturday.

Normally, only the prime minister’s military secretary and defense attaché would join the premier for high-level visits in the US.

However, since Israel no longer has a permanent defense attaché to the US — due to a clash between IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz — Tischler was recently appointed as a sort of military envoy to the Pentagon, until he assumes the role of IAF chief in April.

Tischler, in an unusual move, also joined Zamir during a visit to the US earlier this month, where they met with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, and other American officials at the Pentagon.

Witkoff and Kushner visit USS Lincoln in Arabian Sea

Meanwhile, a day after the Oman talks, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner visited the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier Saturday morning, a week after the carrier arrived in the region amid tensions between the US and Iran.

The carrier is currently stationed in the Arabian Sea, and is joined by a strike group consisting of several naval destroyers and cruisers.

Witkoff and Kushner, who led the US delegation’s indirect talks with Iran a day earlier, visited the aircraft carrier at the invitation of US Central Command chief, Adm. Brad Cooper, CNN reported.

Witkoff later confirmed the visit in a post on X, writing that he, along with Kushner and Cooper, “met with the brave sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, her strike group, and Carrier Air Wing 9 who are keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace through strength.”

He added that while on board, they met with the pilot who “downed an Iranian drone that approached the carrier without clear intent” last week.

Witkoff and Kushner are expected to meet Araghchi for a second time next week, Trump said Friday, calling the first meeting “very good.”

“Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly, as they should,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the weekend.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear program, after earlier ordering a naval buildup in the region amid Tehran’s bloody crackdown on the protests, in which thousands of Iranians were killed and tens of thousands detained.

“We’re going to meet again early next week,” he added.

The indirect talks on Friday were the first negotiations between US and Iranian officials since the US struck key Iranian nuclear facilities during the 12-day Israel-Iran war last June.

Iran, whose leaders are sworn to Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and has claimed it halted uranium enrichment activity since the war with Israel.

However, the Islamic Republic has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.