U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he opposes any Israeli military strike on Iran.
According to a report by Axios, citing an Israeli official, Trump told Netanyahu that he still believes a diplomatic agreement can be reached between Washington and Tehran.
The two leaders spoke by phone for 40 minutes on Monday, following Iran’s formal rejection of a U.S. proposal that would have required Tehran to hand over its nuclear enrichment program to a U.S.-supervised regional consortium.
Iran is expected to present its counterproposal later this week ahead of the sixth round of indirect negotiations scheduled for Sunday in Oman.
During the call, Netanyahu reportedly attempted to persuade Trump that Iran was deliberately stalling, but the U.S. president was not convinced, despite expressing frustration with Tehran and calling its leadership “stubborn,” according to Axios.
Over the past month, reports have emerged indicating that Israel is preparing for potential military strikes on Iran. On Monday, Israeli media reported that Israel was “100 percent ready” to target Iranian nuclear facilities.
In response, several Iranian officials have issued warnings in recent days, hinting that Iran may withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and could move to build nuclear weapons if attacked. They also claimed to have identified previously secret Israeli nuclear facilities, which they threatened to target in retaliation.
Analysts have also raised doubts about the effectiveness of such strikes. A February 2025 assessment from the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that an Israeli strike would likely delay Iran’s nuclear program by only weeks to months. A U.S. strike, the assessment said, could set the program back by several years but would not eliminate it entirely.
Nevertheless, on Tuesday, General Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), told the Congressional Armed Services Committee that he had provided President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with a “wide range of options” for potential military action should the negotiations fail.