US President Donald Trump publicly criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a second consecutive day on Tuesday, accusing the Israeli leader of trying to keep Washington engaged in the conflict with Iran by raising concerns over Tehran’s underground Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility.

Speaking to Fox News hours before the two leaders met at the White House, Trump said Netanyahu should have discussed the issue privately instead of making it public.

“I heard Bibi announce that,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

“I said, ‘Why don’t you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?’”

Trump suggested Netanyahu’s remarks were aimed at persuading the United States to maintain military involvement in the confrontation with Iran.

“I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved,” he said, adding that US intelligence was closely monitoring the underground nuclear site and knew “exactly what’s going on.”

The US president said much of Iran’s military infrastructure had already been destroyed but warned that the Pickaxe Mountain facility would be targeted if diplomacy failed.

“We’ll have to take out Pickaxe if we don’t make a deal … we’ll take it out very easily,” he said.

Despite the tough rhetoric, Trump said Washington was engaged in “some very good talks” with Tehran and reiterated that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained the administration’s central objective.

“I just want very simply, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple, and they’ve agreed to that. We have to get them to make it formal,” he said.

Trump also dismissed repeated public denials by Iranian officials that negotiations were taking place.

“For some reason, we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion, and they’ll come out and say we’re not talking or we didn’t discuss nuclear,” he said.

The remarks came after reports that Netanyahu intended to present Israeli intelligence claiming Iran was reinforcing the Pickaxe Mountain underground nuclear complex near its Natanz enrichment facility.

According to reports citing sources in Jerusalem, the Israeli premier planned to argue that Tehran was continuing nuclear-related activities while negotiating, although it was unclear whether the issue was raised during his meeting with Trump.

The White House did not allow media access to the hour-long meeting, and neither leader disclosed details of their private discussions.

In a separate development, Trump defended Türkiye against Israeli criticism over possible US arms sales to Ankara, describing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a friend and stressing that no country would dictate Washington’s defence export decisions.