Trump Told Netanyahu 'Go Ahead and Get Ready' on Iran Strikes, White House Denies Talks

"Go ahead and get ready." That was reportedly Donald Trump's answer when Benjamin Netanyahu raised the prospect of a major new military operation against Iran — an answer that was neither a yes nor a no, and that has set off a storm of speculation about a war before the elections. According to a report by Axios on Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister discussed resuming large-scale strikes on Iran with the US president last week, before Israel's October 27 election and America's November 3 midterms. The White House has flatly denied the conversation ever happened.

The report, carried by the Jerusalem Post, Times Now and others, cited two senior US officials, one Israeli official and a fourth person familiar with the discussions. It said Netanyahu pointed to alleged Iranian efforts to rebuild parts of its nuclear programme as the reason to strike again.

What Axios reported: "Get ready" — but no commitment

According to Axios, Netanyahu raised the possibility of a renewed joint US-Israel campaign against Iran during conversations with Trump last week. The potential operation would target Iranian military and nuclear facilities, the sources said, and could include heavy bombing of Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear targets.

The most-quoted line of the report came from a US official who described the exchange to Israel's Channel 12: "Bibi spoke to the president about it several times, and the president told him, 'Well, you know what, Bibi, go ahead and get ready.' But he didn't really give him any commitment. 'Go ahead and get ready' could be now, could be later, and could be never." Another US official put it more bluntly: "Bibi seems to want to go in again."

The report also said the Israel Defense Forces and US Central Command (CENTCOM) are on alert and finalising preparations in case Trump orders strikes — and that the Pentagon has told CENTCOM to complete those preparations. Axios identified US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CENTCOM leaders as the strongest supporters of renewed strikes inside the administration.

NBC News separately reported that Trump and his national security team have discussed resuming the campaign against Tehran in the coming weeks.

The White House denial: "false"

The White House has rejected the report outright. A White House official called it "false" and said: "The President has said that we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections." The official denied that the two leaders had discussed restarting the war at all.

Netanyahu's office has taken a middle path: it confirmed that the prime minister maintains regular contact with Trump and senior US officials, but declined to comment on the content of their talks. In a separate statement carried by Channel 12, his office said: "The PM is not pushing Trump to attack Iran before the elections and is engaged in dialogue with him and his officials."

The result is a familiar Washington standoff: a detailed, multi-sourced report on one side, and a categorical denial on the other.

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Why now: Pickaxe Mountain and the nuclear question

At the heart of Netanyahu's case, according to the report, is Israeli intelligence suggesting Iran is taking steps to rebuild parts of its nuclear programme. One site singled out in the discussions is Pickaxe Mountain, which Israel fears could be used as a uranium enrichment site.

An Israeli official said Netanyahu expressed concern about those assessments during a call with Trump. One US official said Trump initially appeared inclined to resume attacks but later became more hesitant.

A US official also offered a bleak summary of the state of diplomacy: "The negotiations are not really dead, but they're not really alive. We're just here, piling on the pressure and there's a belief that smarter heads will prevail over there."

Elections on both sides — and the politics of war

Israelis vote on October 27; Americans vote in the midterms on November 3. A renewed war would land squarely on both campaigns.

Critics of Netanyahu have seized on that. Opposition figure Avigdor Lieberman warned that Netanyahu would launch a war before the elections for political reasons, and reports have raised the prospect that renewed fighting — and Iranian retaliation — could disrupt Israel's vote itself.

Trump has publicly tied military action to the electoral calendar. He has said the US will not strike Iran before the midterms, and on Tuesday he also warned Yemen's Houthis that he will "never forget" their attacks on Saudi Arabia and will act after the elections. The war with Iran, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has never fully ended.

What happens next

For now, nothing has been decided — at least nothing the public has been told. The IDF and CENTCOM are preparing; the White House says there will be no attack before the midterms; Netanyahu's office says he is not pushing for one before the elections. All three statements can be true at once, which is precisely why the story has caused such alarm.

File photo: President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — Official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. (Not taken at the reported discussions.)