Trump tells Netanyahu US starting direct, ‘high level’ nuclear talks with Iran – but no new tariff or hostage deal announced yet

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – It’s late here in Israel, nearly midnight, and Israelis are going to be surprised when they wake up on Tuesday.

Why?

Because Monday’s Oval Office meeting between American President Donald J. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not exactly go as planned.

First, Trump announced that he’s about to engage in direct, high-level diplomatic negotiations with the Iranian regime in the hopes of ending Tehran’s nuclear threat once and for all. 

That’s going to cause stress for Netanyahu and many Israelis who fear that Iran will outfox American diplomats yet again, as they have for half a century. 

“We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started,” Trump told reporters. “It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen. And I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable.”

“Maybe a deal’s going to be made,” Trump continued. “That would be great. It would be really great for Iran…..We are meeting very importantly on Saturday, at almost the highest level.”
Netanyahu tried to sound supportive, even though what he really wants is an American promise to bomb the Iranian nuclear threat out of existence.

“We’re both united in the goal that Iran does not get nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told reporters during the meeting in the Oval Office. “If it can be done diplomatically, in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.”

Second, neither Trump nor Netanyahu announced that a deal had been struck to cancel the new 17% tariff on Israeli products that the White House announced last week. 

Netanyahu quickly announced last week that he is ending all Israeli tariffs on American products, hoping Trump would reciprocate. 

Trump still may, but as of press time, he hasn’t yet. 

“The Manufacturers Association of Israel estimates that the tariffs will cost Israel about $3 billion in exports each year and lead to the loss of 26,000 jobs in industries that include biotechnology, chemicals, plastics and electronics,” reported the Associated Press. 

“The World Bank says Israel’s gross domestic product, a measure of economic output, is over $500 billion a year.”

“The damage won’t stop at exports,” Ron Tomer, the group’s president, told the AP. “It will scare investors, encourage companies to leave Israel and undermine our image as a global center of innovation.”

“We will eliminate the trade deficit with the United States,” Netanyahu insisted, vowing to remove “all trade barriers.”

“Israel can serve as a model for other countries that strive to do the same,” Netanyahu said.

Third, no announcement was made regarding a new deal that would release any of the hostages in Gaza, much less all of the hostages. 

Israelis fear that time is rapidly running out for the 24 living hostages still in Gaza.

Many are desperately hoping Trump has another trick up his sleeve to secure a new and effective deal. 

But so far, that does not appear to be the case. 

“Netanyahu says that Israel is working on a new deal for a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza,” the Times of Israel reported. 

It’s a deal, Netanyahu said, “that we hope will succeed.”

“I’d like to see the war stop, and I think the war will stop at some point that won’t be in the too distant future,” Trump said during the White House meeting. 

“Right now, we have a problem with hostages. We’re trying to get the hostages out….It’s a long process. It shouldn’t be that long.”