Trump Hosts Zelenskyy and Netanyahu in Same Day, as Iran Strikes US Bases
Back-to-back White House meetings unfold even as Tehran hits American troops in Jordan and the Gulf
By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
WASHINGTON — Two wars, two visiting leaders, one afternoon at the White House. President Donald Trump met separately with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera and the BBC, in what the White House called "positive and productive" talks — even as the conflict with Iran flared anew.
Iran struck US bases in the Middle East on the same day, Al Jazeera reported, and hit three ships in the Strait of Hormuz while rejecting an Omani proposal to manage the waterway. Separately, the US military said it intercepted a barrage of Iranian missiles fired at American troops stationed in Jordan, following what Al Jazeera described as a five-day pause in the wider war.
Zelenskyy, in Washington after attending the funeral of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, told reporters Russian President Vladimir Putin has "lost the initiative" in Ukraine, according to Fox News, citing Russian losses of roughly 30,000 soldiers a month and the growing role of Ukrainian military technology on the battlefield. Overnight, the US Senate advanced a sweeping new sanctions bill targeting Russia, per the Guardian.
Netanyahu's visit — his seventh to the Trump White House, Al Jazeera notes — was his first since Israel's war with Iran began, and came as he works to mend a strained relationship with Trump. Outside, protesters stormed a Washington hotel where Netanyahu was dining and heckled him, Al Jazeera reported. He has separately vowed to travel to New York despite New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's repeated calls for his arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant, according to Fox News.
What any of it settles is another matter. The meetings produced warm words. The missiles kept flying.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE -
— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera, the BBC, Fox News and the Guardian.
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