Netanyahu heads to US for first time since Iran war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House for the first time since the start of the Iran war, over which they have publicly disagreed.

Relations between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Trump have occasionally appeared strained in recent months, but both have sought to tone things down.

The 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.

The meeting will be the eighth between the leaders since Mr 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," Mr 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 Mr Trump unleashing profanity-laced tirades against his Israeli ally.

Mr Trump later described Mr Netanyahu in an interview as a "very difficult guy".

Mr Netanyahu downplayed the exchanges as "tactical disagreements", saying they were aligned on the goals of the war.

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.

'No break' in ties

For Yonatan Freeman, an international relations expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the primary aim of the visit is to dispel reports of a cooling in relations between the allies.

"I think that the main issue... is to show the world, to show Iran, and also even Lebanon and others as well specifically, that there is no break or any kind of major disagreement between the United States and Israel," he said.

"There's more in agreement between the two leaders than disagreement," he added.

For Mr Freeman, any differences between Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu concern the means - timeline, intensity, immediate objectives of operations - rather than the ends of the war.

He also suggested that Mr Trump would mainly seek to focus on his two regional priorities, namely Iran and the expansion of the Abraham Accords, rather than on Gaza, which he sees as less of a priority.

The Abraham Accords are a series of US-brokered normalisation agreements signed during Mr Trump's first term, under which Israel established formal diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for the first time, followed by Morocco.

But other observers believe that the talks could address the possible easing of Israel's military presence in the region, such as in Lebanon, Syria or Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu's visit comes months ahead of Israel's national elections, in which he plans to seek another term.

Recent polls show Mr Netanyahu trailing, with public anger still lingering over his government's failure to prevent Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.

Oman presented regional mechanism for Strait of Hormuz to Iran

Oman has presented a proposal to Iran for a joint regional mechanism to manage the Strait of Hormuz with voluntary fees, a Gulf source said today.

Under the Omani proposal, which has regional backing, Iran would not exercise sole control of the vital waterway, the source added.

The proposal is based on the Strait of Malacca, where those who use the strait voluntarily contribute to fund navigation, environmental protection and search and rescue.

The US abruptly suspended a ‌campaign of air strikes against Iran over the weekend, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution that would allow shipping to resume in the Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of global energy supplies before the conflict.

President Donald Trump said yesterday that the United States was having "good ‌talks" with Iran and that there was a chance of a deal, but he warned that US strikes would resume if the negotiations failed to deliver.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi discussed the Strait of Hormuz with his Omani and Saudi counterparts yesterday.

"He emphasised the need to strengthen cooperation and advance joint diplomatic efforts to establish stability in the region, and lift the insecurity imposed on the Strait of Hormuz due to the aggressive actions of the United States," according to Iran's foreign ministry statement.

The call between Mr Araqchi and his Saudi counterpart, Faisalbin ⁠Farhan, came after Saudi Arabia ⁠said it shot down drones launched at the kingdom by Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq.

New round of Israel-Lebanon talks set for August 4 - US official

The US State Department confirmed that the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Rome on 4 August through 6 August, as Israel prepares to withdraw from two "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani first announced the next round of US-mediated talks last week, with a State Department official detailing the talks on the condition of anonymity.

"In Rome, technical groups will focus on advancing the full implementation of the framework agreement," the official told AFP, adding that the planned discussion "includes expanding the pilot zone process, resolving all outstanding border issues, and working on a comprehensive peace and security agreement."

The Israel-Lebanon framework deal emerged after war broke out between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah on 2 March, against the backdrop of the wider Middle East war.

It calls for an end to the war in Lebanon, disarmament of the Lebanese movement, the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south and for Israeli forces to steadily withdraw from the country in two "pilot zones."

"The experience of the initial zones will help us perfect pilot-zone implementation so it can expand in a phased manner," the US official added.

Lebanon's army on Sunday condemned Israel's ongoing military operations in the south of the country, arguing it was preventing its full deployment under the framework deal.

Beirut has reported intermittent Israeli strikes and artillery shelling on the south despite the lull in fighting.