‘Don’t need him to tell me that’: Trump rebukes Netanyahu as they meet on Iran

Updated July 29, 2026 — 6:26am,first published 3:17amWashington: Donald Trump publicly rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu over plans for escalating the war in Iran as the two men met at the White House for the first time since the conflict commenced five months ago.The meeting came as the Israeli leader – and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – visited Washington for the funeral of Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who was a staunch advocate for military aid to both countries.President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other dignitaries at the funeral of Lindsey Graham on Tuesday.AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinAt the White House, Netanyahu made an understated arrival using the West Wing’s side entrance, and his meeting with the US president and senior administration figures was closed to the media.But only a few hours earlier, Trump expressed frustration about reports that Netanyahu intended to present Israeli intelligence that Iran was fortifying Pickaxe Mountain – an underground nuclear site near its Natanz uranium enrichment facility.“I don’t need Bibi to tell me that,” Trump told Fox News, using an affectionate term for the Israeli PM. “Bibi’s telling me that because he wants me to stay involved … We have the greatest cameras in the world focused on [Pickaxe Mountain], we know exactly what’s going on.”The New York Post reported on Tuesday (US time) that Netanyahu would use the visit to present evidence of ongoing Iranian nuclear activity and demonstrate that Tehran was not negotiating in good faith, citing a source in Jerusalem.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the funeral for Republican senator Lindsey Graham.AP Photo/Alex BrandonNetanyahu did not publicly declare what he intended to tell Trump, but the US president appeared to interpret the reporting as a statement from Netanyahu.“I heard Bibi announce that,” Trump told Fox News. “I said, ‘Why don’t you just tell it to me, why do you have to announce it to the world?’ I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe, it’s not a big problem.”Trump repeated his threat to destroy the facility if a deal with the Iranians was not forthcoming. He also spoke about “competing factions” within the Republican Party, some of whom wanted him to escalate strikes and others who preferred a diplomatic solution.It was not clear whether Netanyahu actually presented Trump with intelligence about Pickaxe Mountain or any other Iranian nuclear site. The meeting lasted just over an hour.The meeting was closed to the media but the Israeli government distributed photos of the two leaders.Credit: Maayan Toaf / Israel Government Press OfficePhotographs from the meeting by the Israeli government showed Trump beaming, and there is no suggestion of a blow-up between the two leaders. But the president’s willingness to publicly push back on Netanyahu is indicative of a relationship that is more strained than before the war.Trump’s observation that Netanyahu “wants me to stay involved” – or seeks to prolong the war – is also a candid admission of the prevailing dynamic between the two leaders.The Israeli prime minister is primarily in Washington for the funeral of Graham, who died suddenly this month at 71 from what medical reports said was an aortic tear. The long-serving senator was a close friend of Israel and Ukraine, and a cheerleader for US military intervention in Iran and elsewhere.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also travelled to Washington for the funeral, and held a similarly private White House meeting with Trump just an hour before Netanyahu.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.@ZelenskyyUaZelenksy said it was a good meeting that included discussion about US plans to allow Ukraine to licence production of Patriot missile interceptors, “and several other ideas that could help” in the war against Russia.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said both meetings were “positive and productive”.On Monday night, after arriving from Israel, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, attended a private memorial dinner with Graham’s family, friends and several Trump administration officials at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington.“America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends and supporters. And I have lost a dear friend,” Netanyahu told the gathering, according to his office.Benjamin Netanyahu with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the funeral for Lindsey Graham.AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinGraham’s flag-draped casket is carried down the steps of the US Capitol.AP Photo/Mariam ZuhaibUS news site Axios reported the dinner was hosted by Lebanese banker and film producer Antoun Sehnaoui and Trump’s former deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus.Other attendees included Meta president Dina Powell McCormick, Trump aide Stephen Miller and his wife Katie, and a slew of Republican and Democratic senators – among them Darline Graham, who has taken her late brother’s Senate seat.Dozens of high-ranking dignitaries attended Tuesday’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral, including cabinet secretaries, top White House aides and members of Congress. They remembered a man whom Trump praised as “a giant of the Senate”.President Donald Trump delivering a eulogy for Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly this month.Alex Brandon/AP Pool via APNews Corp and Fox chairman Lachlan Murdoch attended, as did former vice president Mike Pence and Fox News host Sean Hannity, who, like Trump, delivered a eulogy.The program featured contrasting messages about Graham, a well-known foreign policy hawk who urged Trump to attack Iran. “He was extremely hawkish,” the president told mourners. “He never saw a war that he didn’t like.”Earlier, Trump told Fox News: “Lindsey liked war. I said, ’You’re a nice guy, how come you like war so much? He was a guy that liked war.”But Hannity said the common portrayal of Graham as a warmonger was wrong. “The truth is the opposite,” he said.“Lindsey desperately wanted – and talked to the president about – lasting peace in the Middle East. He wanted every country in the region on that path to peace. That was Lindsey’s dream.“[But] Lindsey had moral clarity. He knew – as President Trump knows, as Israel knows, as I know – there can be no path to peace until evil is defeated.”Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.From our partners