WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's diverging language on Israel's decision to attack a critical Iranian gas field marks the most notable difference of opinion between the two leaders since the start of the 20-day war against Iran.
The attack by Israel on the South Pars gas field prompted Iran to retaliate against energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries. The Iranian strikes led to already elevated global energy prices further surging and spurred Gulf allies to call for Trump to rein in Netanyahu.
The aftermath of the strike left Trump and Netanyahu facing questions on whether they're entirely in sync in prosecuting the war that began as a closely coordinated joint attack on the longtime regional foe. The emergence of daylight — or at least the appearance of it — between the two leaders could shape the balance of the conflict and any eventual endgame.
Trump, during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, told reporters that he neither agreed with nor approved of Israel's attack on the world’s largest gas field, which is an energy lifeline for Iran.
“I told him, ’Don’t do that,'” Trump said of Netanyahu's decision to strike. “We get along great. It’s coordinated, but on occasion he’ll do something. And if I don’t like it — and so we're not doing that anymore.”
Netanyahu said that Israel “acted alone” and that he's agreed to Trump's request that Israel hold off on any further attack on Iran's giant gas field. The prime minister also sought to downplay any space between him and Trump.
“It’s been said that for 40 years I’ve been saying that Iran is a danger to Israel and a danger to the world. That is true,” Netanyahu said at a news conference in Jerusalem. “You know who else said that? President Trump.”
Netanyahu later added: “Look, I don’t think any two leaders have been as coordinated as President Trump and I. He's the leader. I’m his ally. America is the leader.”
Trump's first public reaction to Wednesday's strike on the Iranian gas field came several hours afterward in a fiery social media post where he also declared the U.S. “knew nothing” about the attack before it was carried out.
Two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly said the U.S. was made aware of Israel's plan ahead of the attack. The people were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. One of the people said Israel's targets are being coordinated with the U.S.
Top U.S. administration officials on Thursday made the case that Trump is simpatico with Netanyahu, but is ultimately guided in his Iran strategy by what he believes is in the U.S. national security interest.
The U.S. air campaign has focused on decimating Iran’s missile program, pummeling its already beleaguered nuclear program and destroying its navy. Israel, meanwhile, has carried out one high-level assassination after another as it looks to topple the Islamic authority that has led the country since 1979.
The prime minister has framed the moment as an opportunity to usher in a new era in the Middle East — one in which the government in Tehran is run by a more moderate leadership that is not hostile to Israel.
Netanyahu is buoyed by an Israeli public that is far more supportive of the war than the American public. That gives him the political leeway to support a sustained operation that could deliver a decisive blow to Iran’s clerical rule.
Though Trump has offered shifting, myriad reasons for the conflict, he's consistently articulated that ensuring that Iran “never has a nuclear weapon” is his primary objective.
“The objectives that have been laid out by the president are different from the objectives that have been laid out by the Israeli government,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard noted to House intelligence committee members on Thursday, when asked during a hearing about the White House position on the gas field strike.
Trump, in contrast with Netanyahu, has cooled on the prospects of toppling Iran's clerical authority and paving the way for a more moderate government.
It's been a significant evolution for the president from the start of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment, when he confidently told Iranians that they would soon have an opportunity to rid themselves from the clerical rule of the past 47 years.
But in a Fox News Radio interview last week, Trump was far more measured about the pathway ahead for opponents of the Islamic government and expressed concerns about the paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in crushing recent nationwide protests, maintaining its grip as a menacing force in Iran.
“So, I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons. I think it’s a very big hurdle,” Trump said.
Asked by host Brian Kilmeade if he agreed with Netanyahu's calls for Iranians to take back their country, Trump made clear he didn't think they were ready to rise up. “I would think that Bibi would understand that too," Trump added.
Over the course of Trump's five years in the White House, Netanyahu has arguably been his most steadfast ally among foreign leaders. The Israeli leader, for his part, never misses an opportunity to gush that the Jewish state has never had a more reliable friend in the White House.
But over the last three weeks, Trump and aides have acknowledged the two countries come at the war differently. And Trump has said those differences are natural.
“You know, they’re there, and we’re very far away,” Trump noted.
In the big picture, differences between Trump and Netanyahu are so far largely superficial, said Joel Rubin, a former State Department official in the Obama administration.
The Israeli prime minister has “been trying to figure out how to get American support for many decades" to get behind his push for decapitating strikes on Iran. Trump, Rubin added, is “the first president to say, ’Go for it!'"
Still, the longer the war goes on, the more pressure Trump could face politically and the more rifts could form, Rubin said.
“When the war ends it’s likely gonna be Trump’s call and I do think that we’re probably gonna have a dynamic where, in the future, they’ll have to figure out how to be in sync in terms of identifying and defining when it’s time to end the military operation,” Rubin said of Trump and Netanyahu. “And Israel does not have the same focus on global oil markets as the U.S., and the repercussions.”
AP writer Sam Mednick in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Ronen Zvulun, Pool Photo via AP)
President Donald Trump listens as he meets with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
MOSCOW (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with President Vladimir Putin about the results of U.S.-mediated negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also Trump's son-in-law, attended the two days of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The talks wrapped up Wednesday with an agreement on a large exchange of prisoners, but no visible breakthrough on ending the nearly five-year hostilities.
After meeting with Putin, Kushner said that he and Witkoff will fly to Dublin, Ireland, to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy gave a muted welcome to the outcome of the talks, saying that the proposed prisoner exchange was a positive step. At the same time, he insisted that Ukraine won't give in to demands that it cede its territory that has been occupied by Russia in exchange for peace.
Hopes had been low for any significant breakthrough in the first meeting in nine months between the delegations. From time to time, Russia and Ukraine have swapped prisoners, but have remained far apart in their demands for accepting a peace settlement.
Along with post-conflict security guarantees for both countries, other key hurdles are the fate of Russia-occupied Ukrainian territory and what role European countries will play in an eventual settlement.
Moscow doesn’t want European countries, which are concerned about Russia’s conduct and broader intentions on the continent, involved in the direct negotiations. Kushner said that one of the goals of the Moscow meeting is to try to get Europeans added to the talks.
Kushner noted that both Ukraine and Russia needed clarity on post-conflict security arrangements, and European countries, the European Union and NATO have to be involved in those discussions to build consensus on the next steps.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that European representatives could eventually join peace talks.
But Peskov said that their current statements “don’t indicate any desire on their part to contribute to movement along the path toward peace.” Moscow complains that Europe is financing and supplying weaponry to Ukraine.
Ukraine wants to ensure that Moscow doesn’t attack again, and EU officials say any discussions on Europe’s security arrangements could only start after a ceasefire. Many in Europe see the inclusion of Russia in those plans as a concession to Putin, who has described NATO’s eastward expansion as a top security threat to his country. Moscow has demanded that the alliance withdraw its troops from Russia’s borders.
Fighting continues along the 1,200-kilometer (about 750-mile) front line, where little territory has changed hands this year, while both countries are battering each other with long-range missiles and drones.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The ministry declared that the military has struck a drone-making plant in Kyiv and three other facilities producing missile fuel and drone components in the area around the Ukrainian capital. It said that other strikes hit power substations in Zhytomyr and a bulk carrier heading to the Black Sea port of Odesa with cargo for the Ukrainian armed forces.
A Russian military serviceman was killed in St. Petersburg early Thursday when his vehicle exploded, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s main criminal investigation agency. It didn’t name the victim or say who could be behind the bombing. Fontanka news outlet said that the victim was a colonel and an explosive device in his car went off as he drove off. Another person accompanying him was wounded, it said.
Several senior officers have been killed by bombings and other attacks that Russia has blamed on Ukraine. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some attacks on Russian soil.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the fighting in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff, left, and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, second left, meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Airport in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron meet during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greets Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law,, right, and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, center, during their meeting at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, Moscow, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, speaks to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, second left, and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, third left, as Russian Presidential foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, behind Putin, and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev, right, sit near during the meeting at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, Moscow, on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Searchers carry the body of a civilian from an apartment building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Law enforcement officer inspects the site of a car explosion that killed a military serviceman in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo)
In this photo provided by Kirill Dmitriev X-account Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, left, greets U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, center, at the international airport outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Kirill Dmitriev, X-account via AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference after a bilateral meeting with Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026 ahead of the European Political Community (EPC) Summit. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, left, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, second left, and Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, right, walk out of the hotel towards The Kremlin for the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
U.S. envoys Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff confer during a briefing following U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner speaks at a briefing following U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner speaks at a briefing during U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine, alongside U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, left, and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service, second from right, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
