WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump met Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday and discussed nuclear talks with Iran and Israel’s war in Gaza, Axios reported, citing two sources briefed on the meeting.
The meeting was held at the White House and was not made public by the U.S. or Israel, according to Axios.
Dermer met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday and had several meetings in the White House including one with Trump on Thursday, Axios said.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Trump is preparing for his first major diplomatic trip next week that includes a three-country Middle East tour starting in Saudi Arabia.
A fourth round of U.S. nuclear talks with Iran is likely to take place over the weekend in Oman, with Iranian state media pointing to May 11 as a probable date.
Top U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff also said Washington was trying to hold the next round of talks this weekend, according to Axios. Tehran says it is committed to diplomacy with Washington. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters Witkoff was going to Oman for the next round of Iran talks.
Western countries say Iran’s nuclear programme is geared towards producing weapons. Iran insists it is for civilian purposes. Trump has threatened to bomb Iran if no agreement is reached to resolve the long-standing dispute.
On Gaza, Israel’s Security Cabinet this week approved a plan that may include the seizure of the entire enclave of 2.3 million people, as well as control over aid, which Israel has blocked from entering since March.
Israel and the U.S. have faced criticism from human rights advocates as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has become dire.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while triggering accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. It has internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and caused a hunger crisis.
Trump has been condemned over his plan to displace Palestinians and for Washington to take over Gaza. Rights groups, the U.N., Palestinians and Arab states say it would amount to ethnic cleansing.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry)
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