WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.
“I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution now,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. “That could change at any moment.”
Israel earlier rejected a report in the New York Times that Netanyahu has been threatening to disrupt talks on a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran by striking Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities.
Citing officials briefed on the situation, the newspaper said Israeli officials were concerned that Trump was so eager to reach a deal with Iran that he would allow Tehran to keep its nuclear enrichment facilities, a red line for Israel.
Israel was particularly concerned about the possibility of any interim deal that would allow Iran to maintain its nuclear facilities for months or even years while a final agreement was reached, the paper reported.
U.S. officials were concerned Israel could decide to strike Iran with little warning and said U.S. intelligence estimated that Israel could mount an attack on Iran in as little as seven hours, the paper reported.
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement in response to the article which said simply: “Fake news.”
The New York Times said it stood by the report.
“The New York Times reporting on this matter is thorough and based on discussions with people directly familiar with the matter. We remain confident in what we published,” a spokesperson said in an email.
The paper said Netanyahu’s minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, and David Barnea, head of the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, met Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Rome on Friday.
The two then travelled to Washington for a meeting on Monday with CIA director John Ratcliffe, before Dermer met Witkoff again on Tuesday.
One of the main sticking points in the talks between U.S. and Iranian officials has been U.S. insistence that Iran give up its nuclear enrichment facilities, a demand Iran rejects.
On Monday, U.S. Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said she had a “very candid conversation” with Netanyahu on the negotiations with Iran.
She said she told the Israeli prime minister that Trump had asked her to convey “how important it is that we stay united and let this process play out.”
Trump bypassed Israel on his trip to the Middle East this month and has made policy announcements that have shaken Israel’s assumptions about its relations with the U.S.
Netanyahu has dismissed speculation about a falling out with the U.S. administration, while Trump has also brushed off any suggestion of a break.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie, Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Bill Berkrot)
