Behind the scenes: This Israeli official said Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has a very negative position “about everything,” but it is not clear whether the alleged instructions are actually issued by him or not.

He claimed: “He is alive, but no one can testify that they have actually seen him. He has told his people not to do anything without his confirmation, and even once—apparently—when they did not do it, he became angry.”

A broader look: This Israeli official said Netanyahu showed Trump a map of Syria according to which the areas Turkey controls in Syria are “50 times larger” than the areas Israel has at its disposal.

The official claimed that Turkey controls 5% of Syrian territory and Israel 0.1% of it.

A U.S. official said that unlike Israel’s presence in southern Syria, Turkey’s military presence in northern Syria is currently being carried out with the satisfaction and invitation of the Syrian government.

This Israeli official said Netanyahu told Trump that Israel will keep its presence in the “buffer zone” in southern Syria as long as there is a threat from “jihadist groups.”

He said: “Netanyahu wanted to show this to Trump because sometimes he forms views based on incorrect information that some people give him. If you can’t find a way to change his mind in the early stages, that view becomes entrenched. So we wanted to present the facts, as much as possible in a visual form.”

The official said Netanyahu also spoke with Trump about a U.S.–Saudi nuclear agreement. Trump told Netanyahu that he sees the agreement within the framework of normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

The official said: “If we see real progress, we will have things to say on the nuclear issue.”

A bigger picture: This Israeli official said Netanyahu told Trump, Vice President Vance and Witkoff that he is serious about reducing U.S. military aid to Israel to zero over 10 years. He stressed that he wants negotiations to begin regarding a new memorandum of understanding on this matter.

The official said Trump and his team have said they are receiving feedback from Republicans who are worried that gradual cuts to support could lead to them being accused of being anti-Israel.

Netanyahu told them that he personally will lead this effort publicly, because he wants Israel to achieve defense independence.

The official said: “We are talking about a 10-year process. We are ready to review proposals; maybe this process can be done faster.”

The official also said Netanyahu instructed Israel’s defense branch to work over the next decade on developing a modern fighter so that the country’s air force remains powerful even if the supply of F-35s and other advanced aircraft by the United States stops.

He said Netanyahu does not want Israel to be “dependent on the goodwill of the U.S. Congress,” because he believes the political atmosphere regarding military aid in both parties is changing negatively.

The official said Netanyahu believes Israel’s economic situation allows U.S. military aid to be gradually removed. He added that Netanyahu has proposed a new memorandum of understanding to include $16 billion in direct U.S. military aid, in addition to $5 to $10 billion in support for the development of Israeli missile defense systems.

In addition, Netanyahu proposed creating a joint $16 billion fund for research and development into new weapons systems.

Hashtags: null