Donald Trump hosted back-to-back White House meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as Ukraine seeks more firepower for its air defenses and the Israeli prime minister tries to repair his strained relationship with the US president.
Trump described both meetings in positive terms on social media Tuesday evening, remaining vague about what was discussed.
“Had a very good meeting!” Trump said of his sit-down with Netanyahu. “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed.” He posted a similar statement about his time with Zelenskyy, writing the “meeting went very well!”
It was Netanyahu’s first visit to the Oval Office since he and Trump launched their joint military campaign against Iran on ۲۸ February.
Netanyahu’s relationship with Trump has been complicated in recent weeks by his push to keep fighting Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, even as Trump pursued a diplomatic opening with Tehran.
Tensions between the pair have risen as the war has drifted inconclusively, with Trump calling the Israeli premier “crazy” and declaring: “Without me, there would be no Israel.”
The two men are each facing pressure at home, with Netanyahu in a tough re-election fight, and Trump under pressure to end an unpopular war that has pushed up prices before November’s midterms.
Trump signaled some of that friction beforehand. Asked on Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning about reports that Netanyahu planned to brief him on intelligence about Iranian activity at Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected nuclear site Trump has threatened to bomb, he said he knew “exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe”, adding that Netanyahu raises it because “he wants me to stay involved”.
Far outside the White House, behind the fences, protesters chanted: “Netanyahu, you’re a tyrant” and “Bibi, you’re not welcome here” on Tuesday.
The closed-door meeting, which lasted about an hour, was expected to cover Iran, a framework deal the US and Israel signed with Lebanon, and a possible expansion of the Abraham accords, according to a White House official.
Netanyahu also faces the task of reassuring Trump he will not obstruct US-led diplomacy in Gaza and Lebanon, as support for Israel among the US public has slipped, with a new AP-Norc poll showing a sharp decline amid accusations, denied by Israel, that its conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide.
In a statement, Zelenskyy said he had discussed licensing arrangements to let Ukraine manufacture its own interceptors for Patriot missile systems.
“We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated,” said Zelenskyy. “Our teams will arrange the details of their further communication. I am grateful to the United States for its firm support.”
He opened by offering condolences over the death of the US senator Lindsey Graham, calling the late foreign policy hawk “a true friend of Ukraine”. Graham died suddenly earlier this month, aged ۷۱, shortly after returning to Washington from a trip to Kyiv.
Later on Tuesday, with Zelenskyy watching from the Senate gallery, the chamber advanced a sweeping Russia sanctions bill in tribute to Graham. The bill, renamed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of ۲۰۲۶, easily cleared a procedural hurdle, ۸۶ to ۱۲, hours after Graham’s funeral in Washington, where the late senator was hailed as a “fierce defender of Ukraine”.
