WASHINGTON — President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to discuss a possible attack on Iran — with the president saying Tehran’s clerical leaders must be “reasonable and responsible” to avoid potential strikes.

Netanyahu arrived through the side entrance to the West Wing, and the two-and-a-half-hour meeting was entirely closed to the press.

“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated,” Trump posted on Truth Social following the sitdown.

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“If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be. Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer — That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”

Trump also said he and Netanyahu also discussed “tremendous progress being made in Gaza, and the Region in general.”

The Israeli leader was among the regional US allies who requested last month that Trump hold off possible punitive airstrikes against Iran after the mass killing of protesters — citing a need to beef up his country’s defenses.

A small smattering of anti-Israel protesters was audible from the White House grounds as Netanyahu arrived for his seventh meeting with Trump since the president reclaimed power last year.

Netanyahu brought with him intelligence material intended to convince Trump to target Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles if he decides to attack, Israeli TV outlet i24News reported.

Trump warned on Jan. 2 that the US was “locked and loaded and ready to go” if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” which it reportedly then did on a historic scale. 

On Jan. 12, Trump threatened 25% tariffs on any country that maintained trade relations with Iran — though the levies have not been imposed.

The following day, the president called on protesters in Iran to “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” and said “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” — before changing his tune, saying the next day, “the other side” assured him that “the killing in Iran is stopping.”

Trump subsequently hailed Iran pausing plans to execute protesters — as Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, urged Trump not to attempt to take out Iran’s leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader since 1989, fearing regional turmoil.

Although protests in Iran have been stamped out for the moment, the threat of US airstrikes has revived as Trump repositioned the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and a supporting strike group into the Arabian Sea.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday in Oman, then sat down with Netanyahu Tuesday night in Washington.

US demands are believed to include Iran agreeing to end its advanced enrichment of nuclear material — following US and Israeli airstrikes last June — and to curb its long-range missile program and support for regional proxies.

Araghchi said that the Friday talks only addressed the nuclear program.

Trump and Netanyahu partnered last year on elaborate public deceptions that gave the impression that American intervention was not imminent, though the US president has continued to say that strikes remain possible.

“We have a massive flotilla right now going over to Iran,” Trump told Fox Business anchor Larry Kudlow in an interview that aired Tuesday. 

“We’ll see what happens. I think they wanna make a deal. I think they’d be foolish if they didn’t. We took out their nuclear power last time and we’ll have to see if we take out more this time.”