Trump meets Netanyahu at White House over Iran, Gaza

U.S. President Donald Trump began a closed-door meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, which is expected to center on the U.S.-Iran talks and the second phase of the Gaza peace deal, local media reported.

Netanyahu arrived at the White House in a vehicle via the South Lawn, a video captured by CNN shows.

Before the meeting, Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and formally signed up as a member of the "Board of Peace." The initiative is controversial in Israel's parliament, Fox News reported.

"Prior to his meeting with President Trump at the White House, Prime Minister Netanyahu signed up, in the presence of Secretary of State Rubio, as a member of the Board of Peace," the Israeli prime minister's office said on X.

On Tuesday, Trump said in an interview with Axios that Iran "wants to make a deal very badly," and warned "Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time."

Netanyahu was reportedly looking to influence the agenda of the next round of U.S. talks with Iran following Friday's U.S.-Iran indirect negotiations held in Oman.

Ahead of his trip to Washington, Netanyahu told reporters, "I will present to the president our concept regarding the principles of the negotiations (on Iran) -- the essential principles that are important not only to Israel but to anyone who wants peace and security in the Middle East."

Netanyahu also said Gaza is among "a series of topics" he and Trump would discuss, Fox News reported, adding that the Israeli prime minister plans to tell Trump that phase two of the Gaza peace plan "is not moving" amid continued disputes over disarmament, governance and security arrangements.

It is Netanyahu's seventh meeting with Trump since the U.S. president returned to office in January last year.