US President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to discuss the war in Iran as well as expanding the Abraham Accords, following calls by Trump for Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the talks, which lasted about an hour and a half, went well.
Netanyahu’s delegation included Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, his Chief of Staff, Ido Norden, his Military Secretary to the PM, Maj.-Gen. Guy Markezano, and his advisors Ofir Falk and Caroline Glick.
They met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, Vice President JD Vance, and envoy Steve Witkoff.
Netanyahu entered the White House through the side entrance. It was unclear whether anyone came outside to greet him.
Netanyahu has run hot and cold with Trump, who at times has had to rein in the Israeli leader from attacking targets in Lebanon to try to weaken Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
An acrimonious phone call in June in which the president called the prime minister “f***ing crazy”, first leaked to the media and later publicly confirmed by Trump himself, laid bare the strains between the two leaders.
Sources familiar with the matter said Netanyahu aimed to get Trump’s support for his re-election campaign ahead of an October 27 vote.
A meeting with Trump that showcases the traditionally close relationship between the two leaders could help Netanyahu at home, where he is struggling in the opinion polls.
Trump says he doesn’t need Israel’s intelligence on Pickaxe Mountain
Ahead of the meeting, Trump was asked about reports that Netanyahu plans to talk to him about work happening at a site linked to Iran’s nuclear program known as Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified facility buried deep underground near one of Tehran’s main nuclear sites.
“I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi’s telling me that because he wants me to stay involved,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News.
They are also expected to discuss the Abraham Accords, the series of agreements Trump brokered to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
Trump wants to add Saudi Arabia to the accords and conditioned a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the kingdom last week on Riyadh signing up. Riyadh has so far rejected joining the accords without a path toward Palestinian statehood.
Relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who met with Trump at the White House earlier on Tuesday, have warmed as Ukraine has blunted Russian advances, while Netanyahu arrived amid growing White House frustration over the lack of progress toward a broader settlement in the Iran conflict and criticism from some of Trump’s supporters who oppose deeper US involvement in the Middle East.
The two men are in Washington to attend a memorial service for Senator Lindsey Graham, a hawkish Republican who was an advocate for both Israel and Ukraine in Washington, especially in getting their views heard by Trump.
Trump greeted Zelensky at the White House. Arriving in Washington earlier, the Ukrainian leader said anti-ballistic defense and strategic cooperation with the US were the “number-one priority” for meetings with Trump and his team.
“Peace needs to be brought closer,” Zelensky said in a post on X.
Both the Ukraine war and the widening Middle East conflict are at critical junctures. After the collapse of a ceasefire in the Iran war, Trump said he has paused US airstrikes to give diplomacy another chance. Zelensky, meanwhile, has been buoyed by Ukraine’s recent successes.
Still, there is no end in sight for either conflict.
Air defense and drone deal
Zelensky and Trump clashed repeatedly in the early months of Trump’s second term, but relations between the two have improved in recent months as Ukraine has had greater success in the war, including with increased attacks on Russia’s oil industry.
Zelensky was expected to press Trump for urgently needed air defense capabilities and to complete a drone deal with the United States. The two leaders will also likely discuss Trump’s promise at the NATO summit to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptors.
Zelensky spoke last week with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the prospects for renewed peace talks with Russia and said that Ukrainian and US officials could meet in the United States in the coming days.
After the White House meeting, Zelensky was expected to go to the US Capitol to meet with all 100 senators.
Source:
www.jpost.com
