Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington for an unusually early, tightly scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump to press a simple message: any deal with Tehran cannot be limited to nuclear constraints alone. Israel wants explicit curbs on Iran’s ballistic‑missile programme and a firm commitment to end support for regional proxy militias, and Netanyahu intends to present fresh intelligence to make that case directly to the US president.
The visit, arranged at short notice and likely closed to the press, highlights Israeli anxiety about current US‑Iran negotiations. Israeli officials fear that a narrow agreement focused on fissile material and enrichment thresholds could leave intact the missile capabilities and proxy networks that, in their view, pose the more immediate and deniable threats across the Middle East.
Israeli outlets report that Netanyahu will hand‑deliver a briefing on Tehran’s activities — from nuclear work to missile tests and continued backing for groups such as Hezbollah — and warn that long‑range missile development may eventually reach American territory. An incoming Israeli air‑force commander is expected to accompany him, underscoring the military dimension of Israel’s concerns and its desire to ensure military intelligence is fully heard in Washington.
Tehran dismissed the trip as destructive, accusing Israel of trying to sabotage diplomatic progress and urging the United States to resist such pressure. The Iranian foreign ministry framed the dispute as a matter of who sets the agenda in talks with Washington: Iran says its interlocutor is the US, not third parties wanting to expand negotiation parameters.
Netanyahu’s manoeuvre is as much about politics as it is about strategy. He has good reason to be sceptical of intermediaries; he reportedly distrusted the messaging of US emissaries who recently visited Israel and preferred to brief Trump directly. For Netanyahu, the visit is low risk: if Trump opts for confrontation, Israel can claim credit; if the US chooses restraint, Netanyahu can say he did all he could to raise Israel’s red lines.
For Washington the visit is inconvenient. The meeting was moved forward from later in the month to avoid clashing with a separate White House event, forcing the US to receive one of its closest allies in the midst of sensitive diplomacy with Tehran. Trump’s decision will signal whether the US is willing to broaden talks to include missile limits and proxy behaviour — demands Iran is unlikely to accept — or to keep the focus on the nuclear track.
The broader strategic consequence is clear: Israel is pushing to convert a nuclear negotiation into a more comprehensive settlement of Tehran’s regional posture. That push risks complicating the narrow diplomacy that can produce verifiable, technical limits on nuclear activities. If Washington accedes, Iran may walk away; if it does not, Israel will face the delicate calculation of whether to act unilaterally, lean harder on Washington, or accept a deal that stops short of its preferences.
Ultimately the visit crystallises a recurring dilemma for US policy in the Middle East: how to reconcile the security concerns of a key regional ally with the pragmatic constraints of diplomacy with an adversary. Netanyahu’s southward appeal to Trump is meant to make those constraints harder to bear, but whether it will change American calculations — or instead deepen Iranian distrust of a deal — remains uncertain.