U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are scheduled to meet next week during the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, the White House announced on Thursday.
Netanyahu was set to arrive in New York on Tuesday, the day Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks at the U.N. General Assembly, marking the start of the General Debate, a several-day event in which leaders of member states take the podium to discuss a range of global issues.
A specific date and time for the meeting has yet to be announced. Trump is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of France, South Korea, Egypt, Japan and the U.K. on the sidelines of the event, the White House said.
The Netanyahu-Trump summit will be held against the backdrop of a recent spike in tensions between Jerusalem and Moscow. A Russian military plane was downed earlier this week off the coast of Syria by Syrian air defense missiles attempting to repel an Israeli aerial strike, leading to the death of 15 Russian crew members. Russia accused Israel of acting recklessly by bombing a Syrian facility while the Russian aircraft was in the air, and said it did not properly use the deconfliction mechanism that had been established to prevent such mishaps.
Trump and Netanyahu have met several times since the American president took office in 2017, but this will be the first time they meet since the U.S. withdrew from a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. In about six weeks, a second wave of U.S. sanctions is set to be reimposed on Iran – a country Israel views as its arch enemy.
The meeting is also held against the backdrop of ongoing efforts by the U.S. to jump-start long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Netanyahu and Trump see eye-to-eye on Iran, and both hope the new sanctions will ultimately force Tehran to accept an upgraded agreement that would not only limit Iran's nuclear aspirations but would also restrict its missile program and terrorist activities, which both Israel and the U.S. view as a global threat.
During his speech on Tuesday at the General Assembly, the U.S. president is expected to reiterate his warning that anyone who does business with Iran will be blacklisted by the U.S. and banned from trading with U.S. companies.
Trump's speech may also shed light on the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan his team has been working on for more than 18 months, although the U.S. has repeatedly insisted it will be unveiled only once it is complete.
The U.S. currently holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council and has used its authority to schedule a special counter-proliferation session of the council. The White House initially planned to make Iran's aggression the official topic of the meeting, but ultimately decided against it as this would have given Iran's representatives the right to participate in the meeting and deliver remarks. But Trump, who will chair the meeting, will likely focus on Iran in his remarks.
According U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, Trump will mention Iran's "violations of international law" and the "general instability" that Iran is creating across the Middle East.
According to a draft version of his remarks, obtained by USA Today, Trump will use next week's special session to pressure member states to punish aggressors. "The Security Council has regularly adopted resolutions to counter WMD threats," but those resolutions "are often flouted without penalty," Trump is expected to say.
Trump has recently said he was open to meeting with Iran's leaders in order to discuss a new nuclear accord. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to attend next week's General Debate but no meetings have been announced between Iranian and U.S. officials.
