US President Donald Trump said in a brief interview with Axios's Barak Ravid on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked him for a meeting at the White House, and that the sitdown could take place as early as next week. Trump described his relationship with Netanyahu as strong, saying, "We get along very good, he knows who the boss is," referring to himself.
An Israeli official told Ravid that next week might be too soon for the visit, since Trump is set to attend the NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8, and that the meeting is more likely to happen the week after. The Prime Minister's Office confirmed that Netanyahu had spoken with Trump on Friday to congratulate him on the 250th anniversary of American independence, and said the two leaders agreed to meet soon in the United States.
The upcoming meeting would be the first between the two leaders since February, when Netanyahu presented Trump with the plan for what became the joint military operation against Iran.
Trump also addressed the state of negotiations with Iran, telling Ravid that "the Iranians are begging to reach a deal." He said the two sides had agreed to pause talks for about a week, in part because of the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and that neither side would strike the other during that time. "They are all there, one shot and we could take them all out, but we are not going to do that, because then we would have nobody to negotiate with," Trump said.
He added that he was surprised by the size of the crowds attending Khamenei's funeral. "I thought people hated him. Maybe those are fake tears," Trump said.
