Hegseth Confirms Ovda Meeting With Netanyahu on Iran

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced trip to Israel on Monday, October 19. The meeting at Ovda Air Base in southern Israel came eight days before Israelis vote on October 27. Kan News reported that Iran dominated the talks. According to The Jerusalem Post, Defense Minister Israel Katz attended, but IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and other senior officials were not invited.

The meeting coincided with a report by the Financial Times that Trump had blocked an Israeli offensive against Iran that was planned for the weekend of October 10.

For families in Israel, the stakes reach into election week. Ynet reported that Zamir spoke last week with Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the prospect of resuming major combat against Iran within three weeks. Zamir warned that such an operation could force Israel to postpone its elections, because Iran would be expected to fire missiles at Israel in response. On Monday, the IDF announced that leave would be suspended in all units from Thursday. The military stressed that it has no specific intelligence pointing to an imminent Iranian attack.

Hegseth first spoke publicly about the trip overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, Reuters reported. He would not describe the substance of the talks. "I was there to visit our troops, and I had an opportunity to speak with the prime minister," Hegseth said. "Of course, the contents of our conversation are not something I can discuss, but they have been good partners, and I appreciate that."

Reporters asked President Donald Trump whether he could share what Hegseth and Netanyahu had discussed. "I can't do that right now, no," Trump replied.

Iranian missiles. Illustration (Shutterstock)

Axios broke the story on Monday night, citing two sources. American refueling planes and fighter jets are based at Ovda, and Hegseth met US troops there. In his first public reference to the trip, a post on X, Hegseth said he had visited American forces in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. The post did not mention Israel or Netanyahu. The Pentagon declined to comment.

Netanyahu took an unusual route to the base. His motorcade drove to Ben Gurion Airport, where he boarded a private plane rather than a helicopter. He also missed the Beitar Jerusalem–Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer match he had been due to attend.

Netanyahu's spokesman, Doron Spielman, said the two men discussed regional threats and offensive and defensive military cooperation between the two countries. Spielman added that Hegseth thanked Israel for hosting thousands of American military personnel and spoke about the close relationship between Trump and Netanyahu.

Reports conflicted on who else was present. CNN reported that representatives of the United Arab Emirates attended. US sources told the Post that no Emirati officials were there.

According to the FT report, the IDF had prepared a multi-day operation for the weekend of October 10. Its targets included nuclear facilities, civilian infrastructure and regime sites, and it was designed to be larger than February's Operation Roaring Lion. The operation was shelved after Trump objected. He did not want a new war in the region before the November 3 US midterm elections. Three people familiar with the matter told the newspaper it was unclear whether Washington was meant to take part directly. Those sources called a joint resumption of strikes in the coming weeks "not an unreasonable scenario." "There will either be a deal or an attack," they said.

Trump left his options open. "We are making very good progress with Iran," he said. "We just have to make a final decision about how we want to win. Do we want to win the nice way, or the not-so-nice way?"

The Ovda meeting took place one day after Trump publicly endorsed Netanyahu. Netanyahu then called Trump to thank him. On Wednesday, Netanyahu told newly commissioned IDF officers that Trump had told him several days earlier that he was ready to "finish the job" on Iran, but only together with Israel.