Trump would be referred to as Prime Minister; reaching an agreement with Iran would be the "preferable" option

On the 11th, U.S. President Trump held a closed-door meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House. Following the meeting, he posted on social media that reaching an agreement with Iran would be the United States’ “priority.”

The meeting lasted about three hours. Trump described the meeting as “very good” on social media, and stated that aside from his “insistence” on continuing negotiations with Iran in hopes of reaching an agreement, there were no substantive results achieved by the U.S. and Israel.

Trump wrote that he told Netanyahu that if an agreement could be reached with Iran, “it would be our top priority”; if no agreement could be reached, “we can only wait and see.” He also warned Iran that last time Iran believed it was better not to reach an agreement, the result was the U.S. launching a “midnight hammer” military operation, bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Trump said he and Netanyahu also discussed the Gaza issue and the overall situation in the Middle East.

This is Netanyahu’s sixth visit to the U.S. since Trump returned to the White House in January last year. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated on the 10th that the visit plans to discuss a range of issues, with the most important being U.S.-Iran negotiations. Before departing, Netanyahu told the media that he would explain Israel’s views on the U.S.-Iran negotiations to Trump.

The U.S. and Iran held indirect talks on nuclear issues in Oman on the 6th. Although both sides subsequently signaled a willingness to continue negotiations, war alerts have not been lifted. In an interview with U.S. media on the 10th, Trump said he is considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to prepare for military action if negotiations with Iran fail.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)