Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the middle of a security meeting on Iran on Thursday, June 11, when word came that President Donald Trump had just announced a breakthrough agreement with Tehran.
Israeli officials said they had no prior warning about the deal taking shape. Netanyahu quickly got on the phone with Trump to spell out what Israel would accept in any final pact.
Netanyahu Learns of Trump’s Iran Deal During Security Meeting
The Prime Minister’s Office released a short statement after the call. It said the two leaders discussed a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, which is now being drafted ahead of the deal’s signing.
Even though Israel is not part of that memorandum, Netanyahu told Trump he welcomed the American president’s promise on the core issues.
Those demands are that Iran must ship out its stockpile of enriched uranium, tear down its enrichment facilities, put tight limits on missile work, and stop arming its proxy militias across the region.
“The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for President Trump’s commitment that the final agreement at the conclusion of negotiations will include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region,” the statement from Netanyahu’s office read in part.
Also Read: Trump Says Iran’s Supreme Leader Has Approved Major Deal With U.S.
Early Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had called off planned U.S. strikes on Iran set for that evening.
He said high-level talks with Iranian leaders had been approved on their side, and that key players, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others, had signed off on the concepts and details.
Trump added that the naval blockade in the area would stay in place until the deal is signed. He said the time and place for the formal signing would be announced soon.
Israeli television channels reported that Netanyahu learned of Trump’s post while sitting in a cabinet meeting. Channel 12 said officials were stunned.
A source who spoke to CNN said Israel knew of no imminent agreement or approval.
Tensions had been rising fast in the hours before the announcement. U.S. forces carried out a second day of strikes on Iranian targets after an American Apache helicopter was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed it hit 18 U.S. military sites in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.
Tehran also declared it would shut the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic. Against that backdrop, Trump’s sudden turn to diplomacy left Jerusalem scrambling to catch up.
Also Read: Trump Warned Iran Is Exploiting His Desire for a Deal
For months, Israel had pushed the United States to take a hard line on Iran’s nuclear program. Netanyahu has long argued that only the complete dismantling of Iran’s enrichment capacity can prevent Tehran from building a bomb.
The statement from Netanyahu’s office thanked Trump for the commitments but stopped short of endorsing the memorandum itself.
Iran’s state media gave its own version, with Fars News Agency reporting that Iranian authorities were likely to approve the looming deal because Washington had accepted language proposed by Tehran. Details of that language were not released.
US strikes on Iranian military sites were followed by missile and drone attacks by Iranian forces against US assets in the Middle East.
Fears of wider fighting flared after the Apache helicopter was downed before Trump intervened.
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