Netanyahu privately voicing frustration with Trump’s Mideast policies — report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been telling associates privately that he is frustrated with US President Donald Trump’s Middle East policies, a report said Sunday.

According to the Israel Hayom daily, Netanyahu has told aides that Trump says the right things, particularly on Syria and Iran, in bilateral meetings, but his actions are another matter.

Netanyahu has been concerned with Trump’s support for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts to deepen his hold on Syria, Israel Hayom said, though he simultaneously gives Israel permission to operate where it chooses in the country.

During their hastily arranged meeting in Washington in April, Trump praised Erdogan as Netanyahu sat silently next to him in the Oval Office. Erdogan is a leading critic of Israel, and even prayed for Israel’s demise in a visit to a mosque during Ramadan.

Netanyahu has also been worried by Trump’s decision to open nuclear talks with Iran — announced in the same White House meeting — and concessions supposedly made by the Trump administration with little in return. Sources have told the Reuters news agency that the deal is shaping up to be not significantly different from the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump lambasted and ultimately withdrew from in 2018.

While Netanyahu has publicly warned that a bad deal would be worse than no deal at all, Trump has said that a deal is “going to happen.”

Iran, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction, denies seeking nuclear arms, but has accelerated production of 60%-enriched uranium, an enrichment rate far above what is needed for civilian uses and a short technical step from weapons-grade uranium. It also continues to develop its ballistic missile capabilities.

According to Israel Hayom, Netanyahu is also concerned about the removal of former US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz from his position.

According to the Washington Post, Trump was angered by Waltz’s hawkish position on Iran and coordination with Netanyahu on military options to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program, contributing to his dismissal last week.

The Prime Minister’s Office didn’t deny Sunday’s report, saying in response that “in their conversation days ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump agreed that the supreme goal is the dismantling of Iran’s ability to achieve a nuclear weapon.”

Last month, Trump said after speaking on the phone with Netanyahu that the pair “are on the same side of every issue.”

But reports have increasingly indicated daylight between their stances on key matters, including whether to strike Iran and whether to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, with Netanyahu unwilling to publicly criticize the US president.