Florida (US): President Donald Trump warned Iran against reconstituting its nuclear program Monday as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his home in Florida for wide-ranging talks.
The warning comes after Trump has insisted that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities were “completely and fully obliterated” by U.S. strikes on key nuclear enrichment sites in June. But Israeli officials have been quoted in local media expressing concern about Iran rebuilding its supply of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel.
“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again,” Trump told reporters soon after Netanyahu arrived at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
Iran has insisted that it is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program. But Netanyahu was expected to discuss with Trump the need to potentially take new military action against Tehran just months after launching a 12-day war on Iran.
Trump criticized Iran anew for not making a deal to completely disarm its nuclear program ahead of the U.S. and Israeli strikes earlier this year.
“They wish they made that deal,” Trump said.
Netanyahu’s visit also comes at another critical moment in Gaza as Trump looks to create fresh momentum for the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire that is in danger of stalling before reaching the complicated second phase of the agreement.
Trump, with Netanyahu by his side, said he wants to get to the second phase “as quickly as we can.”
“But there has to be a disarming of Hamas,” Trump added.
Before his talks with Trump, Netanyahu met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Gaza ceasefire progress has slowed
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Trump championed has mostly held, but progress has slowed recently. Both sides accuse each other of violations, and divisions have emerged among the U.S., Israel and Arab countries about the path forward.
The truce’s first phase began in October, days after the two-year anniversary of the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. All but one of the 251 hostages taken then have been released, alive or dead.
The Israeli leader has signaled he is in no rush to move forward with the next phase as long as the remains of Ran Gvili are still in Gaza.
Gvili’s parents met with Netanyahu as well as Rubio, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Florida on Monday. The Gvilis are expected to meet with Trump later in the day, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that advocates for families of abductees of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
“They’re waiting for their son to come home,” Trump said of the family of the young police officer known affectionately as “Rani,”
The family, according to the group, is looking “to ensure there will be no transition to Phase 2 of the agreement until Hamas fulfills its Phase 1 commitments and returns Ran home.”
Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for ending Hamas’ rule of Gaza.
Next phase is complex
The path ahead is certainly complicated.
If successful, the second phase would see the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision by a group chaired by Trump and known as the Board of Peace. The Palestinians would form a “technocratic, apolitical” committee to run daily affairs in Gaza, under Board of Peace supervision.
It further calls for normalized relations between Israel and the Arab world and a possible pathway to Palestinian independence. Then there are thorny logistical and humanitarian questions, including rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza, disarming Hamas and creating a security apparatus called the International Stabilization Force.
The Board of Peace would oversee Gaza’s reconstruction under a two-year, renewable U.N. mandate. Its members had been expected to be named by the end of the year, but the announcement could be pushed into next month.
Much remains unsettled
The leaders’ meeting comes after Witkoff and Kushner recently huddled in Florida with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have been mediating the ceasefire.
Two main challenges have complicated moving to the second phase, according to an official who was briefed on those meetings. Israeli officials have been taking a lot of time to vet and approve members of the Palestinian technocratic committee from a list given to them by the mediators, and Israel continues its military strikes.
Trump’s plan also calls for the stabilization force, proposed as a multinational body, to maintain security. But it, too, has yet to be formed. Whether details will be forthcoming after Monday’s meeting is unclear.
A Western diplomat said there is a “huge gulf” between the U.S.-Israeli understanding of the force’s mandate and that of other major countries in the region, as well as European governments.
All spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that haven’t been made public.
The U.S. and Israel want the force to have a “commanding role” in security duties, including disarming Hamas and other militant groups. But countries being courted to contribute troops fear that mandate will make it an “occupation force,” the diplomat said.
Hamas has said it is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons but insists it has a right to armed resistance as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory. One U.S. official said a potential plan might be to offer cash incentives in exchange for weapons, echoing a “buyback” program Witkoff has previously floated.
Trump makes case once again for Netanyahu pardon
Trump also renewed his call on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to grant Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a corruption trial, a pardon.
Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters.
Trump has previously written to Herzog to urge a pardon and advocated for one during his October speech before the Knesset.
