Netanyahu calls White House to ask if Americans are holding secret talks with Iran 'behind his back'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the White House for clarification earlier this week after Israeli intelligence suggested the Trump administration had communicated with Iranian officials, Axios reported Wednesday.

LIVE Middle East War Day 5: US Defense Secretary Announces What's Next: “Death and destruction from the skies. All day.”

Citing two sources familiar with the matter, the US publication said that Netanyahu called White House officials on Monday to ask if there had been any contact or exchange of messages regarding a possible truce in the Iran war.

Netanyahu's move suggests that the Israeli government is concerned about a scenario in which the US pursues an armistice before all of Israel's war objectives have been achieved.

Sources cited by Axios said that Israeli intelligence had obtained information earlier this week that raised suspicions that some sort of communications had taken place between Iran and the Trump administration to discuss a truce.

On Monday, Netanyahu called White House officials and asked if any such discussions or exchanges had taken place.

“The White House told Bibi (the nickname of the Israeli prime minister, no) that the Trump administration did not talk to the Iranians behind his back,” one of the sources said.

A US official said that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner speak almost daily with Netanyahu, Mossad chief David Barnea and other Israeli officials – and that, regardless of past ups and downs, coordination over the past month has been very close.

“They know we're not talking to the Iranians,” the US official said.

The Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment on the Axios report, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The Iranians tried to contact the US through the Gulf countries

A US official and another source cited by Axios said the Iranians had sent messages to the Trump administration in recent days through the Gulf and other states in the region, but the US had not responded.

“We treated these messages as nonsense,” the US official was quoted as saying.

“Steve Witkoff or Jared Kushner have not had any conversations with Ali Larijani, Abbas Araghchi or anyone else in the Iranian regime since the beginning of the war,” another US official told a news conference on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump has also ruled out any talks with the regime in Tehran.

“Their air defense, Air Force, Navy and leadership are gone. They want to talk. I told them it's too late,” Trump wrote Tuesday in a message posted on the Truth Social social network, commenting on an op-ed.

Signals for the CIA

“Operative” agents of Iran's Intelligence Ministry have reportedly sent signals about opening talks with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to end the war, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing officials familiar with the matter.

The offer was made through a spy agency in an unspecified country, according to the NYT, which cited Middle Eastern and Western officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The White House and the CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.

Officials from Washington, however, expressed their skepticism that Iran or the administration of President Donald Trump would really be ready for an “exit” (from the conflict) in the near future, NYT also wrote, according to Agerpres.

Iran's ambassador to UN structures in Geneva on Tuesday ruled out any negotiations with the US for now, days after the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on his country.