Ahead of Netanyahu-Trump meeting, mediators believe US-Iran breakthrough near

Sources say Trump waiting to decide on matter until he’s met with Israeli PM; Iran and Oman have okayed proposal to clarify Hormuz disagreements, revive memorandum of understanding

WASHINGTON — Ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, mediators believed they were close to a breakthrough that would revive the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran last month, an Arab official and a second source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

However, the intermediaries were awaiting a final decision from Trump after his meeting with the Israeli leader.

Mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Qatar have been discussing a proposal that would clarify disagreements regarding operations of the Strait of Hormuz, the two sources said on Monday night. Iran maintains that the MOU granted it a level of control over the strait, while the US has argued otherwise.

The proposal being advanced by the mediators aims to bridge those gaps so that the US and Iran can begin talks through the MOU, whose 60-day timeline is set to expire next month.

Iran and Oman — which both are situated along the strait — have given a green light to the mediators’ proposal, and it now awaits approval from Trump, the two sources said, adding that the White House was holding off on making a decision until after the president’s meeting with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu was set to meet Trump on Tuesday at 11 a.m. local time (6 p.m. Israel time), more than five months after their last meeting. His schedule will also include attending a memorial service for the late pro-Israel Republican senator Lindsey Graham.

The White House daily schedule indicated the meeting would be held away from reporters, though Trump has regularly opened such meetings to the press at the last minute.

It will be Netanyahu’s first sit-down with Trump since before the outbreak of the Iran war on February 28.

The pair last met on February 11 in the White House, where Netanyahu reportedly made a high-stakes pitch for the US to join Israel in another war against Iran, including a series of predictions on the regime’s supposed brittleness that did not pan out.

Netanyahu took off Monday without publicizing his departure in advance, and left from an Air Force base rather than Ben Gurion Airport, reportedly for security reasons.

In a video statement, released after his departure was belatedly confirmed, the premier said he was “embarking on this mission with one clear objective: To ensure the security, strength, and future of our beloved State of Israel.”

His visit to the US comes during a lull in the Middle East war after 13 days of intensifying US airstrikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks across the region by the Islamic Republic.

The Pentagon suspended the bombing campaign late on Friday, with no US attacks reported the next few days.

Iran, which had been following each night of US attacks with its own strikes on neighboring countries that host US bases, has also held its fire, saying it will continue to do so for as long as the US does.

Washington’s decision to halt strikes came, according to widespread reports, due to military officials’ warning that the designated US targets in Hormuz were mostly exhausted, as well as fears — denied by Trump — that its stores of interceptors to defend from Iran’s attacks in the region were being depleted.

Lazar Berman contributed to this report.