Trump Says Netanyahu 'Knows Who the Boss Is' as Israeli Leader Heads to White House Amid Iran Rift

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House within a matter of weeks, offering a characteristically blunt assessment of the relationship as he did so. "We get along very good," Trump told reporters. "He knows who the boss is." The remark, referring to himself, landed as the two leaders try to paper over a rift that has widened dramatically since Israel's war with Iran earlier this year.

The visit would be the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Netanyahu since their tense February encounter in the Situation Room, when the Israeli leader laid out his plan for a joint military campaign against Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu phoned Trump this week to congratulate him on the 250th anniversary of American independence, and the two agreed to meet soon, according to officials familiar with the call. An Israeli official cautioned that next week may prove too soon, given Trump's planned trip to a NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8. "It might take place the week after," the official said.

The warm words mask real friction. People in Trump's orbit have grown increasingly skeptical of the Israeli prime minister, with one U.S. official telling reporters that "many of Trump's closest advisers think that Bibi was wrong about everything." Last month, Trump lashed out at Netanyahu over Israel's escalation in Lebanon during a phone call, reportedly calling the prime minister "crazy" and accusing him of ingratitude after extensive American military and diplomatic support. Trump has since acknowledged he was "a little bit perturbed" by the exchange.

The stakes are high for both men. The United States has restarted talks over Iran's nuclear program in the months since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike in February, and Washington and Tehran remain locked in a fragile, unresolved standoff. Netanyahu is expected to press Trump to keep the pressure on Iran and resist any deal that leaves Tehran's enrichment capacity intact, while Trump has signaled he wants a negotiated settlement that avoids another round of open warfare.

For Netanyahu, the optics of a White House visit carry domestic weight. The prime minister is kicking off a campaign for Israel's October elections, and polls currently show him trailing. A public embrace from Trump — even a backhanded one — would help Netanyahu argue that he alone can manage the U.S. relationship at a moment of maximum regional volatility. Whether the meeting produces genuine alignment or simply a photo opportunity remains an open question, but both leaders appear to have concluded that being seen together, for now, serves their interests.