Trump holds White House talks with Zelenskyy on Patriot missile licences and Netanyahu on Iran war

US President Donald Trump received two key allies at the White House on Tuesday, holding separate talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both leaders had travelled to Washington for the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump confidant and a prominent advocate for Ukraine and Israel who died suddenly of heart disease two weeks earlier.

Zelenskyy secures talk of Patriot licences

Zelenskyy's meeting, which lasted a little over an hour and was held behind closed doors, focused on strengthening Ukraine's air defences against Russian missile strikes. Writing on X afterwards, Zelenskyy said the two presidents had discussed "licences for the production of Patriot interceptor missiles and other things that can help."

The president and I talked about licences to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles and other things that can help.

The Ukrainian leader also pressed for a revival of diplomatic efforts to end the war. "We also talked about diplomacy - it is important to intensify the diplomatic process," he added. The US has acted as a mediator, though its own war against Iran has pushed Ukraine negotiations into the background.

Zelenskyy has stated Ukraine needs a minimum of 300 Patriot interceptor missiles to get through the three winter months. UN figures show Russia killed more Ukrainian civilians with ballistic missiles in June than in any single month since April 2022.

Netanyahu and Trump discuss Iran war strains

Netanyahu's roughly 90-minute meeting with Trump was their first since the Iran war began in late February. Reports of friction have surfaced repeatedly, with Israel wanting to continue the campaign and Trump pushing for a diplomatic off-ramp.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump told Fox News that Netanyahu was trying to persuade him to stay engaged. "Bibi tells me this because he wants me to remain involved," Trump said, referencing intelligence about a suspected nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain.

I don't need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi tells me this because he wants me to remain involved.

The New York Post had reported, citing an Israeli source, that Netanyahu would present intelligence showing Iran is advancing nuclear activities at the Pickaxe Mountain site in central Iran. Israeli TV channel N12 added that Netanyahu planned to present evidence that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is pursuing a nuclear weapon, a claim Tehran has denied for years.

The Lindsey Graham connection

Both meetings were arranged around Graham's funeral. The South Carolina senator was one of Trump's most important foreign-policy advisers and, according to US media, became a personal friend. Graham had been an early Trump critic in 2016 until a dinner invitation brought him into the fold; thereafter he never publicly criticised the president.

Graham visited Kyiv regularly and maintained a direct line to Trump. He believed a Russian victory would threaten US security interests at a time when many Republicans were questioning the scale of aid packages to Ukraine. Days before his death he had been in Ukraine meeting Zelenskyy.

On the day of the strikes against Iran in February, Graham was recorded telling a documentary filmmaker that Trump "just loves blowing things up" and comparing Trump and Netanyahu to Roosevelt and Churchill. He had pressed for military action against the Islamic Republic for years.

Political backdrop in Washington

Trump's approval ratings have softened as the Iran war drags on. A recent poll found 63% of Americans believe the conflict is going badly for the United States, the highest share yet recorded, and 78% said the president is not focused enough on lowering consumer prices. With congressional elections approaching in November, Republican lawmakers are increasingly nervous.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described both Tuesday's meetings as "positive and productive." Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth attended both sessions, according to photographs released by the administration.

Zelenskyy has recently improved his standing with Trump. The meeting was a marked contrast to the Oval Office confrontation of February 2025, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian leader in front of cameras and Trump subsequently suspended military aid and intelligence sharing. US media reported ahead of this visit that Trump had lately expressed admiration for Zelenskyy's resilience and for Ukraine's military successes, particularly in drone warfare.