WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a “no-bullsh-t” conversation during a one-on-one on Tuesday at Blair House after months of simmering differences in views of the Iran war, sources familiar told The Post on Thursday.
The US and Israeli leaders had a “direct, but no bullshit” conversation, a US official said — clarifying that it “wasn’t contentious at all.”
The pair came away from the talk “knowing where everybody stands” and “how to move forward,” the official added.
It comes after Axios on Thursday reported Netanyahu “confronted” Vice President JD Vance over the veep’s “recent criticism of the Israeli government and Israel’s standing among Republicans” during their private meeting at Blair House the evening after Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral on Tuesday.
US officials and sources familiar with the meeting challenged that characterization in conversations with The Post, insisting it was a candid policy discussion between close allies — not a blowup.
“The meeting was not confrontational at all,” a second US official told The Post. “The leaders have a productive working relationship.”
The second US official instead said Vance and Netanyahu had “a cordial and productive conversation about Middle East issues that are important to both countries,” but declined to give further detail.
“They agreed to continue pursuing opportunities for Israel and the United States to cooperate in areas of mutual interest and shared goals,” the official said.
A source familiar with the discussion described it as “spirited” — adding that neither leader raised his voice. An Israeli official similarly described the exchange as “honest.”
It comes after the vice president in a recent podcast appearance accused the Israeli prime minister of stoking opposition to the since-failed US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.
He has also privately asserted Israel overstated the possibility that the Iranian people would rise up against the regime in Tehran and underestimated the war’s timeline to end after a maximum of six weeks, according to prior Axios reports about a tense phone call between the leaders in March.
Those latter issues were addressed Wednesday by a senior Israeli official during a briefing with reporters.
Asked whether Israeli intelligence had been wrong to suggest military action could create conditions for the Iranian regime to face a popular uprising, the official rejected the idea that Netanyahu had guaranteed such an outcome, saying he “didn’t promise that that would happen,” the official said.
The official said Israel’s assessment instead was that military action could create an opportunity for Iranians to determine the future of their own country.
“[He] said that if we are able to do certain things, we have a chance of creating conditions where the Iranian people could take their fate in their own hands,” the official said.
The official acknowledged that those conditions ultimately “did not materialize“, suggesting the outcome was influenced by decisions outside of Israel’s control.
“In other words, not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made,” the senior Israeli official said.
The Israeli senior official also defended Israel’s previous assessment that the conflict’s most intense phase would last roughly four to six weeks, saying the prediction referred to the main fighting phase rather than the broader aftermath.
While disagreements over strategy and expectations remain part of any close alliance, US and Israeli officials claimed that the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem remains strong — with private debates considered part of managing a complicated Middle East conflict.
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