Netanyahu: Trump and I share same goals on Iran, but ‘deal or no deal,’ Tehran won’t get nukes

By Nava Freiberg

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5 July 2026, 7:31 pm

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Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that he and US President Donald Trump share the same goals on Iran, but stresses that whether or not Washington reaches a nuclear deal with Tehran, he will ensure that it never obtains a nuclear weapon so long as he is prime minister.

Asked about ongoing tensions over the US-Iran memorandum of understanding and subsequent nuclear talks, Netanyahu insists that he and Trump “are set on the same goal.”

“We want to see Iran give up its nuclear weapons program. We want to see the nuclear-enriched material removed. We want to see the enrichment sites for nuclear material dismantled. We have other common objectives,” he says.

“President Trump believes that after the battering that the two of us — Israel and the United States — gave to Iran, he thinks that he can generate enough leeway, enough pressure through the negotiations to get these goals achieved. And, you know, we respect that, and I hope he succeeds,” Netanyahu continues, before adding, “I can tell you this: Deal or no deal, as long as I’m prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”

Netanyahu declines to comment on the apparent progress of the US-Iran talks or criticism by his supporters that the MOU with Washington leaves the Iranian regime intact and poised to recover, saying negotiations are “not over” and “I would judge it when it’s over.”

“Believe me, if I have things that I want to point out in my own opinions, I do so in a free way. And when he has things he wants to tell me, he does that in a free way too. That’s what friends and allies do with each other,” he adds, after recently announcing that he and Trump agreed to meet in Washington soon, apparently at Netanyahu’s request.

“The most important thing is that we have a common goal. And that means Iran does not have nuclear weapons or the capacity to make nuclear weapons,” he says, adding that the world is “very lucky” that Trump is “leading the free world in this common effort.”