Feb 11 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss renewed U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran amid concern that failed talks could spark a wider conflict.
Here are the takeaways from the six previous meetings of the two leaders, mostly focused on Iran and Gaza, since Trump’s White House return in January 2025.
* February 4, 2025: In a shock announcement, Trump says the U.S. wants to take over the Gaza Strip.
At a White House meeting Trump proposes the U.S. take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere, actions that would shatter decades of U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump touts the narrow strip – where Israel’s military assault in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, cross-border attack has leveled large swaths – as having the potential to be “The Riviera of the Middle East.”
He later backs away from this idea after it draws widespread international condemnation and is panned by human rights groups as ethnic cleansing.
* April 7, 2025: Trump blindsides Netanyahu with a surprise announcement that the United States and Iran are poised to begin negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, eight sources say.
Netanyahu had been in Washington to seek Trump’s backing for strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and learned less than a day before their planned White House appearance that U.S.–Iran negotiations would begin within days, four sources told Reuters.
During a 12-day war in June, Israel launches intense, targeted strikes on Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure, with the United States bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Iran responds by firing hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel before all parties reach a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
* During July 7-9, 2025, talks, Netanyahu says a future Palestinian state would serve as a platform to destroy Israel and insists sovereign power remain with Israel. He says he and Trump focused on securing the release of hostages in Gaza while Israel pursued attacks on the strip alongside efforts to reach a ceasefire.
* September 29, 2025: Trump secures Netanyahu’s agreement for a U.S.-sponsored peace proposal to end a nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, but questions loom over whether Hamas will accept the plan.
* October 13, 2025: Trump meets Netanyahu and addresses the Knesset, Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, declaring an end to the Gaza war and urging Israel’s president to pardon Netanyahu, who has been on trial for corruption charges for years.
* December 29, 2025: After meeting Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump says the U.S. could support another major strike on Iran were it to restart its ballistic missile or nuclear programs and warns Hamas of severe consequences if it does not disarm.
(Editing by Howard Goller)
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