Netanyahu and Zelenskyy Meet Separately With Trump at White House

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held separate meetings with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, as both leaders sought to advance their agendas amid escalating global conflicts — with Iran and the Russia-Ukraine war both dominating the agenda.

Both Meetings Described as Productive

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on social media that both meetings had concluded positively. “President Trump has concluded his meetings in the Oval Office with President Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Both meetings were positive and productive!” she wrote on X.

The two leaders also attended the funeral of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly earlier this month from an aortic dissection. Graham had been a vocal supporter of Israel, a sharp critic of Iran, and had met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv the day before his death while advancing Senate legislation to strengthen sanctions on Russia.

Netanyahu Focuses on Iran Nuclear Concerns

Tuesday officially marks five months since the start of the US war with Iran. Netanyahu’s visit to Washington — his first since meeting Trump in February, days before the conflict began — was dominated by discussions about Iran, though the conversation focused broadly on shared strategic goals rather than specific intelligence matters.

Two sources familiar with the meeting told ABC News that the issue of Pickaxe Mountain — a reported Iranian nuclear construction site buried deep underground near the Natanz complex — did not come up, despite earlier media reports suggesting Netanyahu planned to raise it. Trump had publicly bristled at those reports before the meeting, saying, “Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved.”

After the Netanyahu Zelenskyy Trump White House meetings Iran Ukraine sessions concluded, Netanyahu described the conversation as “one of the best conversations I’ve had” with Trump. “It was a conversation of full partnership, of mutual support, with an understanding of the shared goal to ensure that Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said.

The two leaders also discussed expanding the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia, sources confirmed. The potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey — a topic Netanyahu has lobbied against — did not come up.

Despite their recent public tensions, which included Trump calling Netanyahu “crazy” and declaring “Without me, there would be no Israel,” the meeting appeared to restore a measure of alignment.

Zelenskyy Presses on Patriot Licenses and Diplomacy

Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump built on discussions at the NATO summit in Ankara earlier this month, where Trump announced the US would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air defense systems. Tuesday’s conversation advanced those talks further.

“The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help,” Zelenskyy said on X after the meeting. “We also spoke about diplomacy — it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated.”

Zelenskyy’s push comes as Ukraine faces a worsening shortage of missile interceptors that has left cities vulnerable to Russian attacks. The urgency has been compounded by reports that US military stockpiles of certain air defense munitions have declined — a concern Trump dismissed publicly. “We have a lot of ammunition, different types,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Monday, blaming the Biden administration for depleting stocks through earlier Ukraine aid.

Ukraine’s forces also entered a new theater over the weekend, with Zelenskyy announcing strikes on targets in the Caspian Sea, including vessels involved in military cargo shipments linked to Iran and a Russian warship. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the attack a violation of the UN Charter and warned it “cannot go unanswered.”