Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday that she had a “very candid” conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about President Trump’s efforts to cut a nuclear deal with Iran during her whistlestop trip to the Jewish state.
Without elaborating, Noem seemingly alluded to friction between Trump and Netanyahu over how to handle fears over Iran’s nuclear program and acknowledged that “you can’t trust” the theocratic regime.
“President Trump specifically sent me here to have a conversation with the prime minister about how those negotiations are going and how important it is that we stay united and let this process play out,” Noem told “Fox & Friends” Monday. “It was a very candid conversation.”
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (C) pilots an Over the Horizon Small Boat, Mark 4, at Naval Support Activity in Manama on May 25, 2025. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Noem walks to her plane to depart Bahrain International Airport in Manama on May 25, 2025. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours Qal’at al-Bahrain Fort near Manama on May 25, 2025. POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesEarlier this year, Trump inked a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei telling the Ayatollah he wants to see a deal done “very soon,” as The Post previously reported.
Despite withdrawing from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018, Trump has been keen on resolving the nuclear issue with Iran. Former President Joe Biden also made attempts at reviving a deal but was unsuccessful.
Trump teased Sunday that his team has had “some very good talks with Iran” and that he thinks “we can have some good news on the Iran front.”
Former President Barack Obama’s efforts to cut a deal with Iran had rankled Gulf State allies and Israel, prompting Netanyahu to deliver a speech to Congress effectively rebuking him in 2015. However, in the time since, Saudi Arabia has eased relations with Iran and the United Arab Emirates has made attempts to thaw out its friction with Tehran as well.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gives Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa a golf club after their meeting at the Sakhir Royal Palace in Manama on May 25, 2025. POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesWhile Trump and Netanyahu have been chummy in the past, there have been rumors of tensions between the two men and of Israel weighing military options against Iran. Trump notably did not visit Israel during his three-country swing to the Middle East earlier this month.
Noem refrained from dishing on those rumors.
Noem visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, on May 25, 2025. REUTERS“We discussed Iran, and we discussed where Israel’s position was, and I also delivered the message on where the president was, and the president will never accept a nuclear-capable Iran,” Noem said. “He also wants … Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be on the same page with him.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March that Iran “is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
Noem (R) rides a camel after a tour of Qal’at al-Bahrain Fort near Manama on May 25, 2025. POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesIn addition to meeting with Netanyahu, Noem prayed at the Western Wall and visited the Gaza border with Israeli Defense Forces soldiers alongside US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. She met with her Israeli counterpart, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the country’s minister for national security.
Noem also offered up Trump’s condolences after Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky — a young couple who were about to get engaged — were shot dead by a suspected anti-Israel terrorist last Wednesday.
“President Trump extends his greetings and his grief to all of you and he stands with you as we fight this hatred in the world,” Noem said at a news conference earlier in the day Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with sailors and coast guardsmen at a Naval Support Activity, in Manama, Bahrain. via REUTERSShe added that Milgrim and Lischinsky’s lives “will bring a unity among us that will help us defeat our enemies.”
Her jaunt in Israel followed a stopover in Bahrain where she visited a naval base — meeting with coast guard personnel, serving meals and signing autographs.
The Homeland Security was pictured touring the historic Qal’at al-Bahrain Fort on camelback before holding a sit-down meeting with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at the Sakhir Royal Palace






