Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been briefed by White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on the indirect talks between the US and Iran held last week, in the lead-up to his meeting with President Donald Trump, his office said.
This week's meeting is the seventh between the two leaders since Mr Trump took office and was reportedly rescheduled from its original date of February 18. It is expected to focus on the US continuing nuclear talks with Iran.
Experts say Mr Netanyahu hopes to keep Israel’s military options open and probably those of the US as well, after Mr Trump appeared to pull back from imminent military action against Iran.
"During the meeting, the Prime Minister and the envoys Witkoff and Kushner discussed regional issues, and they provided an update on the first round of negotiations they held with Iran last Friday," Mr Netanyahu's office said of the meeting in Washington.
Iran on Tuesday warned against Israel's "destructive" influence on diplomacy, ahead of the meeting. “Our negotiating party is America. It is up to America to decide to act independently of the pressures and destructive influences that are detrimental to the region,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei in a weekly press briefing.
Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also called on US officials to remain alert and not allow Mr Netanyahu to "lecture" them on the nuclear talks, Iranian media reported.
Iran and the US held five rounds of talks last year on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme. Negotiations were derailed in June when Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran just before a scheduled sixth round of talks. The US then joined in, carrying out strikes against key Iranian nuclear facilities.
The latest round of negotiations kicked off last Friday in Oman amid high regional tension. Washington sent an “armada” to the Middle East in response to a government crackdown on protests in Iran. Concerns are high that Washington could launch another attack on Tehran. Iran also warned it would respond by striking American bases in the region.
Both the US and Iran have described the recent talks as "positive" but this has not helped de-escalate the tension. Mr Trump warned that if a deal is not reached, the US will do "something very tough". He told Axios that he was considering sending another aircraft carrier to the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is already in the region.
Iran appears to have not let its guard down either. Mr Larijani met Houthi spokesman and prominent figure Mohammed Abdulsalam in Oman. Semi-official Tasnim news agency said the meeting was a response to the "show" Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner put on when they visited the USS Abraham Lincoln after the talks, as well as evidence of the "unbreakable" bond between Tehran and its proxies.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said satellite images it published showed tunnel entrances to Iran's Isfahan nuclear site had been buried under soil, suggesting Tehran was taking action in case of another attack on the facility.
The US wants Iran to completely abandon its nuclear programme and hand over any enriched uranium, curb the number and range of its ballistic missiles and end support for regional proxy groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Iran, meanwhile, demands relief from the punishing US sanctions programme, but has said its ballistic missiles programme is off the table and that its right to nuclear enrichment is non-negotiable.
