By Alayna Treene, Tal Shalev, Jeremy Diamond and Jennifer Hansler, CNN
US President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House for a meeting, in Washington, DC on 29 September 2025.
US President Donald Trump had a tense conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that reflected their different views on how to proceed with the Iran war, a US official told CNN.
It wasn't their first conversation in recent days. When the two leaders spoke on Sunday, Trump shared that he was likely to move forward with new targeted attacks on Iran early in the week, the official said - an operation that, as CNN has previously reported, was expected to get a new name: Operation Sledgehammer.
But roughly 24 hours after that initial conversation, Trump announced he was halting strikes that he said were planned for Tuesday at the request of allies in the Gulf, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
