Trump and Netanyahu Discuss Next Steps on Iran as Talks Continue and Netanyahu Faces Coalition Task

President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday about the state of U.S. negotiations with Iran and how quickly to resume combat, according to one Israeli and one U.S. source. The sources said Netanyahu is pressing Trump to strike Iran immediately after Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections. Trump told reporters Saturday that the U.S. had achieved military success but still needs to hit "one or two" nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, which he said could be done in 10 minutes. He is considering new strikes after the midterms and has backed Vice President J.D. Vance's outreach to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, proposing talks. Rezaei said Iranian forces would deliver devastating blows using new weaponry, and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei told commanders to drop geographical limits on retaliation. Iranian officials and Qatari mediators held a third straight day of talks in Doha on Sunday. Tehran insists the U.S. abide by the June memorandum of understanding, which quickly fell apart. Separately, Netanyahu lost ground in Israel's election and must now try to build a governing coalition.

The New York Times, the left-leaning source, looks at Netanyahu's domestic position. It focuses on his weakened election result, his decades of political capital and the old foes he must deal with to form a coalition, and the excerpt gives no Iran war detail. National Review, the right-leaning source, runs an opinion piece titled "Trump and Netanyahu Need to Choose Victory on Iran." It argues that a resumed offensive needs a clear goal to justify it. Both treat Netanyahu as a central figure, but one centers his political survival and the other the strategy of the war. Axios and The American Conservative report the call, Trump's remarks and Iranian threats, with no domestic Israeli politics.