Trump & Netanyahu meet as Iran war tensions grow

[0:00] Two world leaders in the midst of war head to the White House today for meetings with [0:04] the U.S. President Donald Trump. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down [0:08] with Trump to discuss efforts to end the war with Russia. And the Israeli Prime Minister [0:13] Benjamin Netanyahu returns for his seventh meeting during President Trump's second term. [0:18] He last visited Washington in February, just before the U.S. and Israel launched a joint [0:24] military campaign against Iran. Well, now five months on and as we enter the sixth month fee, [0:31] two leaders go into this meeting with differing goals about how to approach what has become [0:37] an ongoing stalemate with no clear end in sight. Nick Robertson, following developments for us [0:43] today, he is deployed in Jerusalem. Netanyahu, very quick to point out that this is his seventh [0:49] meeting since Donald Trump was reelected. The first in-person meeting since the war with [0:54] Iran, though, started February the 28th. It was before the war started that we know that [1:01] Netanyahu and Trump sort of completed the planning for this joint campaign. What is, as we understand [1:08] it, Benjamin Netanyahu taking in today? And perhaps more importantly, what does he want [1:14] to leave Washington with this trip? Yeah, his carrying in the burden of dropping polls here [1:25] in Israel, their elections in three months' time, is vital for him that he continues to have a strong [1:33] and publicly positive relationship with President Trump when, at times, that relationship has been [1:39] strained, not least over Lebanon, a little bit over Syria, somewhat over Gaza. [1:44] And Prime Minister Netanyahu really took a political hammering at home when President Trump called [1:52] a ceasefire on the war with Iran back in April. Prime Minister Netanyahu feels that there's unfinished [2:01] business, feels that Iran still poses a nuclear threat, believes that under the current leadership, [2:08] it's unlikely to get that problem alleviated. So he goes into this meeting wanting to get from [2:16] the president strong commitments, undoubtedly, about the U.S. continuing to press as hard and as [2:26] aggressively as it has in the past about making sure that whatever nuclear deal the United States [2:31] gets with Iran, it's robust, while witnessing at the same time President Trump in an absolute [2:38] quandary about what to do about Iran's leverage over the Strait of Hormuz and how that weakens the U.S. [2:45] position, no easy options for the U.S. president. So President Trump won't be looking to face a tough [2:52] time from Prime Minister Netanyahu either. I mean, I think, you know, when you listen to what President Trump [2:58] says how he describes, you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu, describes him as a great wartime prime [3:07] minister. He seems to indicate that he wants to get away from a wartime and perhaps this is no longer [3:13] the era of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And that's not the image Netanyahu is going to want to come away [3:18] with and is also not going to want to get caught on the spot with President Trump, as so often visiting [3:25] leaders do in the White House when the president is thrown a question about what about Prime Minister Netanyahu's [3:31] displeasure with you selling or potentially going to sell F-35s to President Odoğan in Turkey. Just [3:37] yesterday, President Trump said, no one tells me what to do. If that comes up, that's not going to reflect [3:43] very well on the Prime Minister. So the other thing is going to want to take away is an untarnished version of a great and [3:50] strong relationship with the U.S. president. Good to have you, Nick. Nick's in Jerusalem. [3:57] My colleagues are reporting, I know you have reporting on this as well, Netanyahu plans to present [4:01] Trump with fresh intelligence on the state of Iran's nuclear and military rebuilding. What are you hearing [4:07] about this meeting? So, as you said, this is the first time they will have met since the war began. [4:17] And the president comes to this, he's got to feel a little bit misled by Prime Minister Netanyahu. [4:24] When they first were meeting in Washington ahead of the war back in January and February of this year, [4:35] Netanyahu was making the argument that a combined attack on Iran would result in the complete collapse [4:42] of their government, that it would be a short war, that Israel had a plan for the replacement [4:49] of the supreme leader at that time and the president of the country, and that this would just be a quick [4:57] in and out at a moment of fragility in Iran. Everything about that prediction, Kate, turned out to be wrong. [5:05] And now the president is somewhat trapped. He can't leave because the strain of Hormuz is down to a trickle. [5:14] There's a new threat now, of course, by the Red Sea. And the nuclear program, while buried, [5:21] has almost been an afterthought for the president at this point. In fact, at moments he has said, [5:26] well, we can just sort of leave that where it is. Well, that was the cause of the war. [5:31] Yeah. And Kim, add into this now, the U.S. munitions stockpile issue. I mean, [5:37] the president is talking about it. He said yesterday on Air Force One, [5:40] we're in very good shape, but some of the more sophisticated stuff, we'd certainly like to have [5:45] more. He blamed the previous administration for sending more advanced weapons to Ukraine. [5:51] He said, we have a lot of the mid-level stuff. I'd like to have more, to be honest. [5:56] What are you hearing about this aspect of it, Kim? Well, the real threat in terms of the stockpile is [6:05] how fast the patriots are getting burned through. Something like half of the 2000 Patriot supply [6:12] prior to this war, according to SIS and other analysis, has been expended. That is the stuff [6:19] that you need to protect Gulf capitals, to protect U.S. bases, and yes, to protect Ukrainian cities. [6:26] And it is not being replenished fast enough to meet the level of this fight. [6:33] So that is a problem that military officers, according to CNN's own reporting, have stressed [6:40] to Trump, we basically can't keep up. And we're, according to the U.S. intelligence community, [6:47] they're not getting any sort of strategic or behavioral change out of Iran for all of these [6:52] munitions expended. And that's a reality that Trump can't change with slogans. [6:57] Yeah. And David, the fact that Trump's even talking about this. [7:04] Yeah, it is remarkable. We've done a lot of reporting, I know CNN has as well, [7:11] about the nature of these shortages. As Kim points out, the patriots are the most severe, [7:15] but not the only one. The administration so far has had three arguments, Kate. [7:21] One has been, there's no problem here, right? We're not being driven by this. [7:25] Second is, well, we wish we had some more of some kind, as you suggested. So we do have a problem [7:31] there. And third is, this is all state secrets, and we ought to go find the leakers who are talking [7:37] about this, which ignores the fact that both the Pentagon and private think tanks have been publishing [7:44] these numbers for years about what our stockpile levels are. It is hardly a state secret, and it [7:51] doesn't take much to do the math about where we are today. And among the others doing the math, [7:57] the Chinese and the Russians. [7:58] David, Kim, it's great to see you guys. I really appreciate it. [8:02] It's an important day at the White House, for sure.