Netanyahu speaks with Trump amid reports Israel, US preparing Iran strikes
PM to convene limited security cabinet; drone strikes UAE nuclear station; Iran media says US offered no concrete concessions, demands shutdown of all but one nuclear facility
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump Sunday evening about the war with Iran, Netanyahu’s office confirmed to The Times of Israel.
The leaders discussed the possibility of renewing the war with Iran as well as Trump’s recent trip to China, according to Hebrew media reports.
Netanyahu was then set to convene top aides and ministers for a security discussion in his office in Jerusalem. Such discussions in the Prime Minister’s Office, often termed the “small security cabinet,” usually include Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri.
Last week, it was reported that Israel and the United States were carrying out intense preparations to renew attacks on Iran, possibly as soon as this week. Sunday’s discussions come after a drone struck a nuclear power plant in the UAE, which, along with Israel, sustained the most blows from Iran during the war.
Trump is expected to hold his own Situation Room meeting on Tuesday with his top national security advisers to discuss the options for military action regarding Iran, Axios reported, citing two US officials.
While negotiations have stalled between the US and the Islamic Republic since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, Trump is said to believe that Iran still wants to make a deal. But he threatened consequences for Iran if its leaders do not act quickly.
“For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!” he wrote in a social media post.
In his weekly cabinet meeting prior to his conversation with Trump, Netanyahu said, “Our eyes are open regarding Iran.” Referring to the US president, he added, “I will certainly hear impressions from his trip to China, perhaps other things as well. Certainly, there are many possibilities, and we are prepared for every scenario.”
Last week Trump visited China for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He said Xi had offered to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for the global oil supply that Iran has blocked, and that the Chinese leader had pledged not to send military equipment to aid Iran in the war.
On Sunday, after Trump returned from China, he shared an AI-generated graphic of him and a US Navy admiral in front of stormy waters with several ships, including one flying the Iranian flag. A caption read, “It was the calm before the storm.”
New media post from Donald J. Trump
( TruthSocial: May 16 2026, 4:03 PM ET ) pic.twitter.com/dgXKB5ZeTJ
— Donald J Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) May 16, 2026
Trump said to still believe Iran wants to make a deal
Trump still believes Iran wants to make a deal and expects Tehran to submit an updated proposal in the coming days, according to remarks he made in a phone call with Channel 12 and Axios.
According to the news outlets, he declined to specify a deadline for negotiations, but threatened harsher military action if Iran fails to meet US demands over its nuclear program.
“We want to make a deal. They are not where we want them to be. They will have to get there or they will be hit badly, and they don’t want that,” Trump said.
He also said his phone call with Netanyahu was positive and focused largely on the war with Iran, according to Channel 12.
Iranian armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi, meanwhile, warned Trump on Sunday against restarting attacks on his country.
“The desperate American president should know that if his threats are carried out and Islamic Iran is attacked again, his country’s resources and military will be confronted with unprecedented, offensive, surprising, and tumultuous scenarios,” he said, according to state television.
Similarly, Iran’s deputy speaker of parliament, Hamidreza Hajibabaei, warned against attacking Iranian oil infrastructure.
“If Iranian oil is harmed, Iran will take measures that will prevent the United States and the world from accessing oil from the region for an extended period,” he said, according to the news agency ISNA.
Iranian media: US offered no concrete concessions in talks
On Friday, Trump said that he would accept a 20-year suspension of the uranium enrichment at the heart of Iran’s nuclear program if Tehran gave a “real” guarantee. But Iranian media claimed on Sunday that the US had failed to make any concrete concessions in its latest response to Iran’s demands in negotiations to end the war.
In its proposal, Iran had called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Israel’s conflict in Lebanon against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group. That conflict has technically been in a ceasefire for a month, though fighting has carried on unabated.
Iran also demanded a halt to the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, which has been in place since April 13. It also called for lifting all US sanctions and the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad under longstanding US sanctions, according to the Iranian foreign ministry in a press conference last week.
The Fars news agency said the Iranian proposal had emphasized that Tehran would continue to manage the Strait of Hormuz.
Fars said Washington had presented a five-point list of demands, which included a requirement for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US.
The US also refused to release “even 25 percent” of Iran’s frozen assets abroad or pay any reparations for the damage inflicted on Iran during the war, according to Fars, which said the US also conditioned the cessation of hostilities on all fronts on the outcome of negotiations.
The Mehr news agency, meanwhile, said that “the US, offering no tangible concessions wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations.”
UAE nuclear station hit by drone
Amid the impasse, a drone strike triggered a fire near a nuclear power station in the emirate of Abu Dhabi on Sunday, authorities said, reporting no injuries or impact on radiation levels.
“Authorities in Abu Dhabi responded to a fire incident that broke out in an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the Al Dhafra Region, caused by a drone strike,” the Abu Dhabi Media Office said.
The plant began operations in 2020 and is 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, near the country’s borders with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
It provides up to a quarter of the oil-rich country’s electricity needs, the state-owned operator Emirates Nuclear Energy Company said in 2024.
“No injuries were reported, and there was no impact on radiological safety levels,” the media office said. “All precautionary measures have been taken, and further updates will be provided as they become available.
“The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) confirmed that the fire did not affect the safety of the power plant or the readiness of its essential systems, and that all units are operating as normal.”
Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s nuclear agency, condemned the attack.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on X that Grossi “expresses grave concern about the incident and says military activity that threatens nuclear safety is unacceptable.”
The statement did not say from where the drone was launched, but the United Arab Emirates has recently accused Iran of being behind attacks on its energy and economic infrastructure.
Netanyahu said he visited the UAE during the war, though the UAE denied that he traveled there. Other senior Israeli security officials reportedly did so as well. Last week, it was also reported that the UAE and Saudi Arabia carried out military strikes on Iran, making them the only countries to join the United States and Israel in their war against the Islamic Republic.
Times of Israel staff and AFP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.