When President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz from his position as national security adviser last week, the most logical explanation was that Trump was penalizing Waltz for adding a journalist to an unsecured government group chat about military operations.
But a report this weekend said Trump’s frustration with Waltz had begun far earlier — over Waltz’s alignment with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in pushing for a military offensive against Iran.
The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, said Trump was unhappy that Waltz had coordinated with Netanyahu ahead of the prime minister’s first visit to the White House in February.
After Netanyahu made a repeat visit last month, reportedly to press a case for striking Iran with US support, Trump told him that he would not support a US strike on Iran for now.
He publicly announced, in what was widely seen as a blow to Netanyahu, that the United States would enter negotiations with Iran designed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
“Waltz ‘wanted to take US policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the US hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution,’ according to one of the people,” the Washington Post reported. “‘It got back to Trump and the president wasn’t happy with it,’ that person said.”
Netanyahu responds, denying report and congratulating Waltz on UN nomination
On Saturday night, following the newspaper’s report, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement denying that he had closely coordinated with Waltz and congratulating him on his nomination for a different role, as ambassador to the United Nations:
Contrary to the Washington Post report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not have intensive contact with Mike Waltz on Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu had a warm meeting with Mike Waltz and Steve Witkoff at Blair House in February prior to the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Trump at the White House.
Mike Waltz also joined Vice President JD Vance in a meeting with the Prime Minister before leaving Washington. Since then, the Prime Minister, the former National Security Advisor and Steve Witkoff had one phone conversion that did not deal with Iran. We congratulate Mr. Waltz on his important appointment to the United Nations.
If confirmed to the UN ambassadorship, Waltz would continue to play a role in US-Israel relations. He replaces Rep. Elise Stefanik, a pro-Israel darling, as Trump’s nominee to the position.
Meanwhile, the status of the ongoing US-Iran talks is murky, with Oman, which is playing an intermediary role, saying that the most recent round was being postponed. Trump has warned that if the talks fail, the consequences for Iran could be steep — and the United States could join Israel in a military response.
At the same time, insider sources told Reuters last week that the United States was working toward a deal that would in many ways reflect the one struck in 2015 by President Barack Obama, which both Trump and Netanyahu reviled.