Hegseth met with Netanyahu at Israeli air force base amid Mideast tensions

(Oct. 21, 2026 / JNS)

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Tuesday that he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday during a visit to U.S. troops stationed in the Jewish state.

“I was there visiting our troops—I had a chance to talk to the prime minister,” Hegseth told reporters.

“Of course, the nature of our conversation is not something I would talk about,” he added.

Hegseth noted that Washington has “worked with the Israeli military quite a bit” and praised Jerusalem’s “contribution to ensuring Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”

U.S. President Donald Trump also declined on Tuesday to share details of the meeting. “I can’t do that now, no,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We’re doing very well with Iran, we just have to make a final decision of which way do we want to win,” he said. “Do we want to win the nice way or the not nice way.”

The meeting between Hegseth and Netanyahu took place at the Israeli Air Force’s Ovda Air Base in southern Israel, where U.S. refueling planes and fighter jets are deployed, Axios reported on Monday.

Hegseth also met with U.S. troops at Ovda, according to the report. He later posted an image of himself visiting U.S. Central Command troops.

Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for Israel’s prime minister, later confirmed to Reuters that Netanyahu had met with Hegseth at the southern air force base.

The pair discussed “the threats in the region” and the offensive and defensive manner in which to deal with these threats, the spokesman said.

Thousands of U.S. troops are currently stationed in Israel, Spielman added.

Hegseth: Troops prepared to ensure Iran never has nuclear bombs

A meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee took place on Tuesday, to discuss the latest developments in the region, Israel’s top diplomat tweeted.

Huckabee later said it was a “pleasure” to meet with Sa’ar as they “work to build even stronger strategic alliance” between the two nations.

Speaking on Tuesday in Ohio in part of Hegseth’s “Arsenal of Freedom” Tour to showcase American-made military equipment, the defense secretary said that U.S. warfighters are “preparing and ready to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”

“They’re prepared, and they’re dialed in. You look into their eyes, and they’re ready to go. They understand what their assignment is,” Hegseth added.

He moreover spoke about the accelerated manufacturing of arms and defense systems under Trump’s presidency.

It is “critical that we don’t rely on any other country or any other supply chain in providing [technological advances], and that’s why the Arsenal of Freedom is American made. It’s American manufactured. It’s American jobs. It’s American muscle. It’s American power. It’s these great American citizens in front of me,” Hegseth said.

Rubio: ‘Tough’ to make deal with ‘radical Shia clerics’

Meanwhile, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic will not agree to hand over enriched uranium under any agreement with the United States.

“Not a single gram of enriched uranium will be removed from Iran,” he wrote in an English-language post on X.

Rezaei added that there will be no negotiations until the Trump administration takes steps to build trust. That process “must begin with the full fulfillment of all Iran’s conditions,” he tweeted.

His statement comes on the backdrop of a Qatari report claiming that Washington and Tehran have agreed to resume negotiations.

“We previously presented an initiative to the US side known as the ‘Seven Day Plan,’ in which we clearly explained our conditions,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was quoted by Qatari outlet The New Arab as saying on Wednesday.

“The Strait of Hormuz was supposed to be completely opened on the sixth day of this plan. The Americans informed us that they agree to these conditions, but they would like to add some other provisions,” he added.

According to TNA, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir submitted the new peace proposal to Iranian officials on Tuesday.

However, both sides still refuse to compromise over their demands, the outlet added.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Indian financial news channel CNBC TV18 on Tuesday that “It’s tough to make a deal with the Iranian regime.”

He continued, “Unfortunately, they don’t know how to make a deal, and they’re controlled by radical Shia clerics. And I don’t mean Shia clerics; I mean radical Shia clerics who are driven by theology. It’s very difficult to make a deal with them.”

‘Donald, we have a job to finish’

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that his government is committed to completing the elimination of the Iranian regime and its proxy terrorist organization Hezbollah, after which peace with Lebanon will follow.

“I have spoken about this with President Trump more than once, including the day before yesterday,” Netanyahu said while visiting the new Kiryat Shmona-Tel Hai University.

“Because as long as the regime remains alive, even if it is battered, wounded, and beaten, it is so fanatical that it will try again to do what it did a year ago, when we stopped it: produce nuclear bombs and rebuild the axis,” he said.

On Monday, the Israeli premier released a video of a phone call with Trump.

“Together, we will remove the Iranian threat forever!” Netanyahu wrote in Hebrew on X.

“You’re the man I want by my side, Bibi,” Trump could be heard saying on the other line.

“Donald, we have a job to finish,” Netanyahu said. “We’ll finish it together,” he added in reference to the Iranian regime.

On Sunday, U.S. diplomatic missions in 12 Middle Eastern countries issued security alerts, urging Americans to “exercise heightened vigilance” over threats from Iran and its proxies and the risk of escalating Houthi attacks. The alerts were issued for Israel, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.