BUDAPEST, Hungary — The nuclear negotiations that President Donald Trump is pursuing with Iran are likely to be fruitless, a senior Israeli official told reporters traveling with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Hungarian capital on Friday.

“We want Iran not to have nuclear weapons. Is there a way with talks? Maybe, I doubt it. It happened in Libya and Ukraine … I think it won’t happen, realistically,” the senior official said.

“There is no point in having negotiations just to negotiate,” the source added. “It’s pointless to have these discussions.”

Asked if Trump could be falling for a ploy by the Iranians to buy time while they regroup following the wave of Israeli strikes in Iran last year and the fall of their proxies in Lebanon and Syria, the source acknowledged the concern that Tehran may rebuild its air defenses.

However, he said “I’m sure President Trump is aware of all the possibilities. I don’t have to tell him.”

Reacting to the new 17% tariff the Trump administration levied on Israel, the source said that Israel plans to enter discussions with Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative.

”I think it’s mostly solvable. We want to get rid of it, of course,” he said.

Israel is “not giving up on Trump’s vision for voluntary emigration from Gaza,” the senior Israeli official said. Jerusalem is in contact with countries that are willing to take large numbers of refugees from Gaza, according to the source, who would not specify which countries.

Before Israel can execute that plan, though, the source said, “First of all, we want to free the hostages, and second we have to destroy Hamas … so people will leave willingly.”

As for who will control Gaza at that point, the source said, “If, in the first phase Israel has to hold the territory, we will, but we are looking for a consortium of Arab states, based on the Gulf states, to manage it. 

“The overriding security responsibility will be Israeli,” he added. “We will not put it in the hands of others unless proven otherwise, that someone else can do the work.” 

The source also pushed back against accusations that Netanyahu allowed Qatar to fund Hamas, calling it part of “a cascade of lies.” 

“All of the security branches wanted it, including the head of the Shin Bet … It was meant to buy quiet. They said it all the time, endlessly,” he said. “It was meant to prevent a humanitarian collapse and epidemics. The money was supposed to go to gas and pay salaries the Palestinian Authority paid until 2007, meaning it was not money for new things.”

The source also clarified Netanyahu’s comment earlier this week that Qatar is a “complicated country.” He pointed out that while Israel banned Qatar-sponsored Al Jazeera, it accepts Qatar as a mediator to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

“They’re not an enemy state, but our approach to them needs to be more regulated,” he said. 

During their meeting on Thursday in Budapest, Netanyahu and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban discussed efforts to free hostage Omri Miran, who has Hungarian citizenship and has been held by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 21 hostages remain alive in Gaza, the source confirmed.

Hungary is a member of the Organization of Turkic States — Hungarian is a Turkic language — and as such can serve as a channel between Israel and Turkey, the source said. Relations between Ankara and Jerusalem sharply deteriorated after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, and Israel is deeply concerned about Turkey’s expanding presence in Syria.

“Turkey creating military bases in Syria is something that we want to prevent — the question is how,” the source said. “We are not looking for conflict in Syria … We want southwest Syria demilitarized. We won’t allow any army there.”

Another major topic of discussion on Netanyahu’s visit to Budapest was Israel’s aim to significantly increase its artillery stockpiles through joint manufacturing in Hungary. 

Israel “wants to be prepared” for boycotts, the source said, and artillery shells are especially important for saving the lives of Israeli soldiers: “In war, when you enter an urban area, you give a warning to the population, and then you don’t have to [have soldiers] go into the houses, you just blow [the houses] up.” 

Following Hungary’s departure from the International Criminal Court, there is another country that plans to do the same, the source said, but would not specify which. He said that Israel is in talks about the matter with several countries to “leave that corrupt place” and join “the struggle against a body that is putting our soldiers in danger.” 

The source praised Orban as “the leader of the struggle against antisemitism in international bodies.”