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U.S. President Donald Trump is "pissed off" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public criticism of the proposed U.S. F-35 sale to Türkiye, Axios reported, citing two White House officials. Simultaneously, Turkish officials met with U.S. lawmakers in Washington to discuss the same fighter jet program.
According to Axios, no meeting between Trump and Netanyahu had been scheduled despite reports in Israeli media that Trump would host the Israeli prime minister on Monday.
One official told Axios that Trump was angered by Netanyahu's remarks during a Fox News interview shortly before Trump traveled to Ankara for the July 7-8 NATO summit. In the interview, Netanyahu criticized Trump's intention to sell the F-35s to Türkiye.
A second official told Axios that Trump believed Netanyahu "had no right" to weigh in on the proposed sale.
Netanyahu has visited the Oval Office six times since Trump returned to office in January 2025, more than any other world leader, with each of those meetings scheduled within hours or days. This time, according to Axios, Netanyahu had been trying to secure an appointment for more than two weeks, a delay the outlet said signaled both diverging interests between the two leaders and growing White House disillusionment with Netanyahu five months after the two launched the war with Iran together.
Following the announcement of former Sen. Lindsey Graham's death, Netanyahu's office stated that he wished to attend the funeral. Aides later confirmed that Netanyahu planned to travel to the U.S. last weekend to meet with Trump on Monday.
According to Axios, Netanyahu's office had even notified the Israeli Air Force (IAF) to prepare his government plane and sent an advance protocol and security team to Washington.
The trip was canceled after Graham's funeral service was postponed, according to a statement from Netanyahu's office.
Two White House officials told Axios that while Netanyahu wanted to meet Trump, no meeting had ever been confirmed or added to the president's schedule.
"Our impression was that Bibi was trying to will a meeting into existence," one official told Axios.
It remained unclear, according to Axios, whether Netanyahu had received an outright "no" from the White House, though he had not received a positive response either.
Axios reported that White House officials did not rule out a meeting when Netanyahu eventually travels to Washington for Graham's memorial service, and that some Israeli officials believed Netanyahu's decision to cancel may also have reflected his assessment that the U.S. was preparing to escalate its attacks on Iran, prompting him to want to remain in Israel in case of Iranian retaliation.
Axios reported that during Trump's trip to Türkiye, Israel provided the U.S. with intelligence indicating a senior Iranian official had told a colleague that Iran should try to kill Trump while he was in Ankara, according to Israeli and U.S. officials cited by Axios.
The intelligence prompted the Secret Service to take precautions, including switching Trump's aircraft to the older Air Force One, but several U.S. officials described the intelligence as single-sourced and uncorroborated.
"It was more aspirational than operational," one official told Axios.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Axios that Turkish security services investigated the matter and determined there was no specific plot to assassinate Trump in Ankara.
Separately, Hulusi Akar, chairman of the Turkish Parliament's National Defense Committee, said Friday he held meetings in Washington with Rep. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Akar said his discussion with Mast covered bilateral relations, defense and security cooperation, and regional developments, including Iran.
"We emphasized the importance of the strong defense cooperation between Türkiye and the U.S.—including the F-35 program—for NATO's deterrence and Euro-Atlantic security," Akar said, adding that both sides agreed on the importance of maintaining constructive dialogue between the two countries' legislatures.
In his meeting with Crawford, Akar said he outlined Türkiye's "Terror-Free Türkiye" vision as part of a broader "Terror-Free Region" strategy and stressed Ankara's expectation of stronger counterterrorism cooperation with the U.S., with both sides reaffirming the importance of sustained parliamentary dialogue.
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said discussions on Türkiye's potential return to the F-35 program held during the NATO summit were "very promising."
"We agreed together that we would be able to publicly say what we heard was very promising," Turner said during an interview with CBS News, noting that Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, one of the original authors of the legislation restricting Türkiye's F-35 access, expressed a similar view.
Turner called Türkiye's potential reinstatement "incredibly important," citing its status as "a very strong member of NATO" and its history of producing components for the F-35.
"They were also a producer of parts for the F-35. So entering back into production would be very, very important," he said, adding, "I certainly hope that they follow through and that they do so in a manner that returns them" to the program.
Türkiye was suspended from the F-35 program in 2019 during Trump's first term after Washington objected to Ankara's purchase of Russia's S-400 missile defense system, arguing the system could compromise the jet's stealth technology.
Türkiye has maintained that there is no technical conflict between the two systems, has proposed a joint commission to study the issue, and argues its suspension violated program rules.
At the Ankara summit, Trump said the U.S. would consider selling F-35s to Türkiye, describing Ankara as "in many ways much more loyal" than some other partners.
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