WASHINGTON — The United States and Israel will hold high-level talks on Iran’s nuclear program at the White House early next week, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

The planned meeting follows President Trump’s letter to Iran’s leadership earlier this month in which he warned Tehran it had the choice of either striking a nuclear deal with the U.S. or facing possible military action.

The Israeli delegation will be led by strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and will meet with senior Trump advisers, the Washington-based source told Reuters.

The two teams are expected to discuss the potential for U.S.-Iran nuclear talks and regional issues related to Tehran, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Axios was first to report on the scheduled meeting in Washington.

Trump said he sent the letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s fiercely anti-Western Supreme Leader, who responded that Tehran would not be bullied into negotiations.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday that Tehran will consider the “opportunities” as well as the threats in Trump’s letter.

On Saturday, Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping and warned Tehran it will be held accountable if it does not rein them in.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has reinstated a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at isolating Iran from the global economy and cutting off its oil exports.

During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark deal between Iran and major powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

After Trump pulled out in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits.

Western officials fear a nuclear-armed Iran could threaten Israel and Gulf Arab oil producers, and spark a regional arms race. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

Israel, which is battling Iran-backed Hamas militants in Gaza, has made clear it wants to be aligned with the U.S. on any action against Israel’s regional arch-foe.

Last year, Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, in retaliation for Iranian missile and drone attacks, sharply reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, according to U.S. officials and outside experts.

Trump vows to hold Iran responsible for Houthi attacks

On Monday, March 17, Trump said he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthi group that it backs in Yemen, as his administration expanded the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since his return to the White House.

Responding to the Houthi movement’s threats to international shipping, the U.S. launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and the Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said.

“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

The White House said that Trump’s message to Iran was to take the United States seriously.

The Pentagon said it had struck more than 30 sites so far and would use overwhelming lethal force against the Houthis until the group stopped attacks. The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said the goal was not regime change.

Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, director of operations at the Joint Staff, said the latest campaign against the Houthis was different to the one under former President Biden because the range of targets was broader and included senior Houthi drone experts.

Grynkewich said dozens of Houthi members were killed in the strike. The Biden administration is not believed to have targeted senior Houthi leaders.

The Houthi-run health ministry said on Sunday that at least 53 people have been killed in the attacks. Five children and two women were among the victims and 98 have been hurt, it said.

The Houthis, an armed movement that has taken control of the most populous parts of Yemen despite nearly a decade of Saudi-led bombing, have launched scores of attacks on ships off its coast since November 2023, disrupting Israeli ships.

One U.S. official said the strikes might continue for weeks. Washington has also ramped up sanctions pressure on Iran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

Last week, a U.A.E official passed on a letter from Trump, who took office in January, proposing nuclear talks with Tehran, a proposal that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected as “deception” by the Trump administration.

On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that Tehran would respond to Trump’s letter “after full scrutiny” of it.

The Houthis say their attacks, which have forced Israeli flagged ships to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, are doing so in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel launches the deadliest attacks on Gaza and starving its people.

The U.S. and Israel characterize them as indiscriminate and a menace to global trade.

On Sunday, Houthi leader Sayyed Abdul Malik al-Houthi said the Yemenis would target U.S. ships in the Red Sea as long as the U.S. continues attacks on Yemen.

Under the direction of al-Houthi, who is in his 40s, the group has become an army of tens of thousands of fighters and acquired an arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles. Saudi Arabia and the West say the arms come from Iran. Tehran denies this.

The Houthis’ military spokesman said in a televised statement early on Monday that the group had launched a second attack against the U.S. aircraft carrier U.S.S. Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza.

Israel’s suspension of goods entering Gaza for 16 days has increased pressure on the enclave’s 2.3 million people, most of who have been made homeless by the war. The suspension, which Israel said was aimed at pressuring Hamas in ceasefire talks, applies to food, medicine and fuel imports.

Houthi fighters have also fired drones and missiles towards Israel.