Waltz’s ‘intense coordination’ with Netanyahu on Iran strike contributed to firing — report

3 May 2025, 4:25 pm

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US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks with the media following meetings with a Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 11, 2025. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

Then-US national security adviser Mike Waltz speaks with the media following meetings with a Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 11, 2025. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

US President Donald Trump was angered by his recently ousted national security adviser Mike Waltz’s hawkish position on Iran and coordination with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on military options to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program, The Washington Post reports, citing senior officials and Trump advisers.

Waltz faced criticism inside the White House when, in March, he was blamed for accidentally adding the editor of The Atlantic to a group chat in the Signal messaging app describing details of an imminent US bombing campaign in Yemen.

According to the report, Trump’s frustration with Waltz grew over time ahead of his firing. Two of the people who speak to The Post say that Waltz upset the president when he held “intense coordination” with Netanyahu on possible military options for Iran before their White House meeting in February.

Waltz “wanted to take US policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the US hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution,” one of the sources says.

“It got back to Trump and the president wasn’t happy with it,” the person says.

Earlier in the week, Trump announced Waltz would be the next US ambassador to the United Nations, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio was named as his interim replacement.