US President Donald Trump held back-to-back White House meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as both leaders sought to advance their respective agendas. Zelenskyy pressed for more air defence firepower, while Netanyahu aimed to repair his strained relationship with Trump.
Trump described the encounters in positive terms on social media, writing of his sit-down with Netanyahu: “Had a very good meeting!” and adding of his time with Zelenskyy: “The meeting went very well!” However, he remained vague about the details of the discussions.
Netanyahu’s visit was his first to the Oval Office since the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran began in late February. The relationship between the two leaders has been complicated by Netanyahu’s push to continue fighting Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, even as Trump pursued a diplomatic opening with Tehran. Trump has previously called the Israeli premier “crazy” and declared: “Without me, there would be no Israel.”
Both men face domestic pressure: Netanyahu is in a tough re-election fight, while Trump is under pressure ahead of November’s midterms to end an unpopular war that has driven up prices. Ahead of the meeting, Trump signalled friction, telling Fox & Friends he knew “exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe” – a suspected nuclear site – and that Netanyahu raises it because “he wants me to stay involved”.
Outside the White House, protesters chanted: “Netanyahu, you’re a tyrant” and “Bibi, you’re not welcome here.” The closed-door meeting, lasting about an hour, was expected to cover Iran, a US-Israel framework deal with Lebanon, and a possible expansion of the Abraham accords. Netanyahu also had to reassure Trump he would not obstruct US-led diplomacy in Gaza and Lebanon, amid declining US public support for Israel and accusations of genocide that Israel denies.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, discussed licensing arrangements to allow Ukraine to manufacture its own interceptors for Patriot missile systems, and stressed the need to reinvigorate the diplomatic process. He opened by offering condolences over the death of US Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Ukraine supporter, who died suddenly earlier this month. Later that day, with Zelenskyy watching from the Senate gallery, the chamber advanced a sweeping Russia sanctions bill renamed the “Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026”, which cleared a procedural hurdle 86-12.
