President Donald Trump met with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday to discuss Iran’s nuclear negotiations and the ongoing war in Gaza, Axios reported, citing two sources familiar with the meeting.
The meeting took place ahead of Trump’s trip to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. It also took place ahead of the fourth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks scheduled for Sunday in Muscat, Oman, and just before President Trump’s planned trip to the Middle East, which was set to begin on Monday.
Earlier on Thursday, the United States dropped its demand that Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel as a prerequisite for advancing civil nuclear cooperation talks, according to Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump’s envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his team are expected to hold another round of nuclear talks with Iran on Sunday in Oman, according to Axios. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will lead the Iranian delegation. On Thursday, President Trump reiterated his commitment to resolving the nuclear issue through diplomacy, emphasizing that he is seeking a deal with Iran without resorting to military force.
Israel is increasingly concerned about the direction of the current nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, which it sees as echoing the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed during the Obama administration. Despite its reservations, an Israeli source told News14 that Israel is now more involved in the process than it was during the negotiation of the original agreement. “It sure looks like the JCPOA agreement,” the source remarked, adding, “Are we happy about it? I don’t think you can get that impression from anything the prime minister has said.”
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal, was an international agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions and other incentives. It was finalized on July 14, 2015, in Vienna, between Iran and the P5+1 nations—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany—alongside the European Union.
On October 13, 2017, President Trump announced that he would not certify Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. He accused Iran of violating the spirit of the agreement and urged Congress and international allies to address what he described as the deal’s serious flaws.
Trump identified three key issues that could lead the United States to reject the deal: Iran’s development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, its refusal to extend the agreement’s restrictions beyond the original terms, and any indication that Iran had reduced the time required to produce a nuclear weapon to under 12 months.
On May 8, 2018, the United States officially withdrew from the JCPOA when President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the reimposition of sanctions on Iran. The administration instead pursued a new strategy aimed at achieving a more comprehensive and lasting agreement, in cooperation with allies. Despite the U.S. withdrawal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continued to verify Iran’s compliance with the deal, and the other signatories pledged to uphold their commitments. The U.S., meanwhile, adopted a “maximum pressure” campaign centered on renewed global sanctions.
