TEL AVIV — After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump on Feb. 4, Israeli sources say the US and Israeli governments are in full agreement over the Iranian nuclear portfolio.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu flew back from Washington on cloud 9. Whereas observers attributed his broad grin to the boost Trump gave him on crushing Hamas in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by the group, his sense of satisfaction actually appears to stem from understandings reached in the Oval Office on Iran.

A senior Israeli diplomatic source confirmed to Al-Monitor, on condition of anonymity, that Israel and the United States have reached a “full understanding” on the Iranian issue. That includes agreement on the steps that should be taken if Iran refuses to sign a nuclear agreement far more stringent than the one negotiated under President Barack Obama in 2015 and on which Trump reneged in 2018. 

Both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal this week cited US intelligence assessments from early January that said Israel would strike Iran’s nuclear sites at Fordow and Natanz as soon as the middle of this year. The strike could be carried out by Israeli Air Force fighters firing long-range ballistic missiles or dropping bunker-busting bombs on the nuclear sites from close range.