By Samia Nakhoul, Humeyra Pamuk, Parisa Hafezi WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump blindsided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his decision to immediately open negotiations with Iran last month.

Netanyahu has long accused Iran of developing a nuclear weapon and went on a global campaign against the Obama deal. He painted the nuclear program as an existential threat to Israel and the world, and said the agreement was too weak to contain it. Israel remains the Mideast’s only nuclear-armed state, an advantage it would like to keep.

Trump is neither fully aligned with the Netanyahu's timeline nor with his sense of urgency. Trump clearly sees diplomacy as his first option.