United States President Donald Trump has appeared to express frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly before meeting at the White House.

Trump made the comments to Fox News on Tuesday, just hours before he and the Israeli prime minister were set to meet in the Oval Office, their first such meeting since they jointly launched the war with Iran on February 28.

The meeting eventually began with little fanfare, with Netanyahu entering the White House via a side entrance to the West Wing. His office later released photos showing Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in attendance at the Oval Office.

The event remained closed to the press, with no questions taken. The White House gave little information afterwards, except for spokesperson Karoline Leavitt saying the gathering was “positive and productive” in a brief post on X.

Netanyahu was far more effusive, saying it was one of the “best conversations” he had had with Trump.

“When I say excellent, I don’t mean it in a superficial way,” Netanyahu said.

For his part, Trump did not give his own account of the meeting. But speaking to Fox News earlier in the day, he bristled when asked about reports that Netanyahu planned to discuss alleged intelligence related to Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, an underground nuclear site.

“I don’t need Bibi to tell me that,” Trump said during the Fox News interview, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

He added that Netanyahu is “telling me that because he wants me to stay involved”.

“I said: ‘Why didn’t you just tell it to me, why did you have to announce it to the world?'” he said, referring to the report.

“I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe. It’s not a big problem,” Trump said.

Precarious timing

Tuesday’s meeting with Netanyahu comes at a precarious time for Trump, who has said the US and Iran are engaged in a new diplomatic push following a 13-day escalation. He has repeatedly threatened new attacks, including on Pickaxe Mountain and Iran’s civilian infrastructure, if the talks fail.

That fighting followed the breakdown of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran in June, which saw a halt to fighting, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and the lifting of the US naval blockade on Iran.

Netanyahu’s government had opposed that deal and has favoured continued military operations aimed at regime change.

US media reports, meanwhile, have fuelled public perception that Netanyahu has repeatedly influenced Trump to take military action against Iran, including in the run-up to the 12-day war last year and the current war, which has stretched on for five months.

The conflict has remained widely unpopular in the US, and increasingly, within segments of Trump’s Republican party.

Still, Trump downplayed the differences on Iran when speaking to reporters on Monday.

“We have a little difference,” Trump said of Netanyahu, “but pretty close, yeah.”

During that exchange, Trump also pushed back on Israel’s opposition to the US resuming its F-35 programme with Turkiye.

“Frankly, we’re being very nice to a lot of countries that would not survive without us. And you know who wouldn’t survive without us? Israel.”

Despite Trump and, notably, his vice president, JD Vance, showing more willingness to criticise Israel in recent weeks, Washington’s policy of staunch military support has remained unchanged.

Netanyahu’s visit comes as lawmakers continued to mull a defence budget that would integrate parts of the US and Israel’s militaries, with the package already passed by the US House of Representatives.

It also comes as a wave of settler violence has continued to sweep across the occupied West Bank,

Israeli forces have also continued to commit near daily attacks in Gaza and remain deployed in Lebanon.

Trump and Netanyahu were expected to discuss a recent agreement between the Israeli and Lebanese government that critics say allows for near-indefinite Israeli presence in the country, despite ultimately calling for Israel’s withdrawal.

Israel highlights relationship

For his part, Netanyahu, speaking on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” over the weekend, said he hoped to sit down with Trump “to hear what he has in mind” for Iran.

“Because I think, in many ways, it’s his decision” on how to move forward, Netanyahu said. “If he can do so without returning to intense military fighting, that’s fine. Why not?

Observers have said the meeting represented a balancing act for Netanyahu, who has sought to shed the perception among the US public that he is pushing the Washington towards more war.

At the same time, he has sought to use his proximity to the president to boost his support ahead of Israeli elections in October.

Following the meeting, Netanyahu said his conversation with Trump was full of “partnership, mutual support, and a shared understanding of our common goal to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, along with other objectives”.