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White House Iran talks
President Donald Trump hosted separate, closed-door meetings at the White House on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with both leaders leaving after sessions lasting more than an hour.
“The two leaders will also attend Sen”
Zelenskyy said the talks were “positive,” and he praised a “good meeting” with Trump that included discussion of “licenses to produce Patriot air-defence interceptors” and ways to revive talks with Russia to end the “largest and deadliest conflict on European soil since World War II.”
Netanyahu’s meeting was framed as focused on Iran, with a senior source in the premier’s delegation telling journalists that the leaders reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment to ensuring that Iran never has nuclear weapons.”
The TRT World report said Netanyahu’s first in-person meeting with Trump since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28 was held amid exceptionally tight security around the White House and pro-Palestine protests that called Netanyahu a “war criminal.”
Rifts and competing claims
NBC News reported that Trump and Netanyahu were expected to discuss the war with Iran, the framework agreement for peace in Lebanon, and efforts to expand the Abraham Accords, and it said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the meetings as “positive and productive.”
Trump and Netanyahu also traded public language about alignment on Iran, with Trump telling reporters on Air Force One, “We have a little difference, but pretty close,” while Netanyahu described his meeting as “one of the best conversations” he and Trump have had.
CNN reported that the US president said negotiations with Iran were continuing, but Iran’s Foreign Ministry said no discussions are underway, and it added that Trump threatened to destroy Iranian bridges and power plants if no deal is made.
CNN also reported that Iran’s military warned that any ships belonging to a country or company using frozen Iranian assets will be blocked from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and it said the warning came after Trump said any damage done to ships or cargo “will be paid for by Iranian money that the US has in its possession, and controls.”
What’s at stake next
The NBC News account said the meeting came as Netanyahu faces elections in October and as the war with Iran shows no signs of reaching a resolution, with the two leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since the war began at the end of February.
“Netanyahu praises Trump's 'excellent' meeting as Israel hardens its stance toward Iran A few hours before the meeting, President Donald Trump expressed his impatience with the Israeli leader”
NBC News reported that the sit-down also came amid scrutiny from lawmakers over the administration’s handling of the war, and it stated that four U.S. soldiers were killed in recent days, bringing the total number of American troops killed during the war to 18.
In parallel, TRT World said the leaders’ discussions were closed to media and that after the meetings they attended the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham, with the report noting Graham had vigorously lobbied the Trump administration to support both countries amid their respective wars.
BBC reported that Trump said that if talks with Iran fail he is weighing a major offensive, and it said the meeting’s main focus was again Iran and a war that was nearing six months, while also noting that details of the Trump–Netanyahu meeting were not released.
