By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at back-to-back Oval Office visits, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Japan, and Oman’s plan for the Strait of Hormuz.
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From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attend the funeral service for late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in Washington on July 28.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump had a packed diplomatic schedule on Tuesday, separately hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. The Oval Office doubleheader showcased Trump’s efforts to juggle two massive conflicts, one of which he vowed to resolve within 24 hours of taking office and the other of which he started.
First on the docket was Zelensky. According to the Ukrainian president, the two leaders used the closed-door session to discuss “licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help” Kyiv’s war effort. Zelensky did not specify what those other ideas were.
Earlier this month, Trump announced that he would give Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, which Zelensky has argued are vital to countering Russia’s aerial attacks. “This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough,” Trump said at the time.
But Zelensky wants greater assurances. Patriots are expensive, complex munitions that take time to develop; owning a U.S. license will therefore do little to help Ukrainian forces in the near term. Meanwhile, Trump has ruled out giving Kyiv more Patriots from Washington’s own stockpile, having previously argued that “we need them for ourselves too.”
That has led Zelensky to seek support from unorthodox circles—namely, Trump’s own MAGA movement. With the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the few Republican lawmakers to call for more aid to Ukraine, Zelensky needs new GOP allies to help sway Trump in Kyiv’s favor.
Netanyahu similarly used Tuesday’s face-to-face meeting to try to curry the White House’s approval.
In recent weeks, the Israeli leader has found himself increasingly at odds with the U.S. president. Whereas Netanyahu has framed the Iran war as vital to countering an existential threat, Trump has characterized the conflict as a fight over the Strait of Hormuz, pushing Israel’s nuclear concerns to the wayside. This could prove to be detrimental to Netanyahu, who has relied on his close working relationship with Trump to try to convince voters to support his Likud party in upcoming parliamentary elections; only 33 percent of Israelis currently consider Netanyahu to be the best candidate for the premiership.
Tuesday’s closed-door meeting—their first in-person discussion since the Iran war began—reportedly centered on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, with both sides reiterating that Tehran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. An Israeli official told CNN that the two leaders also discussed the U.S.-Israeli partnership, calling it “stronger than ever.”
“The excellent chemistry between the leaders was evident,” the official said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described both meetings on Tuesday as “positive and productive.”
Rising casualties. A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday, trapping dozens of people inside a shopping mall, knocking out power to thousands of homes, and damaging a centuries-old castle. The quake also triggered a tsunami warning, which was later lifted. The number of potential injuries remains unclear, though it is estimated to be at least 100 people.
“We have already been informed that people have been injured,” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said. “Power outages and fires have occurred in some areas, and there has also been damage to roads and bridges and the collapse of buildings.” Tokyo ordered around 300,000 people to evacuate the area and deployed thousands of soldiers to assist search-and-rescue operations.
Authorities warned of intense aftershocks on Tuesday, citing the earthquake’s shallow epicenter. The inland quake was felt as far as South Korea, though no damage was caused to Japan’s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, located around 62 miles from the epicenter. Locals described Tuesday’s earthquake as reminiscent of Kumamoto’s 2016 disaster, in which two successive earthquakes killed 278 people and forced more than 44,000 others to flee their homes.
Who controls Hormuz? Oman has presented Iran with a Persian Gulf-backed plan to establish joint regional management over the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Under the proposal, Iran would not have sole authority over the waterway. Instead, shipping companies using the strait would voluntarily help fund the cost of critical services, including navigation, environmental protections, and search and rescue. This would make the Strait of Hormuz similar to the Strait of Malacca, which is jointly managed by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The plan would not allow Tehran to charge transit fees.
Neither Iran nor Oman has publicly commented on the proposal. However, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) confirmed that it was not involved in these discussions, adding that “any proposal for new shipping routes or traffic management measures should be submitted to IMO for consideration by member states.” Prior to the Iran war, around one-fifth of the world’s liquified natural gas and petroleum products transited the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers convened virtually to discuss ongoing efforts to stabilize the strait, the U.S. military continued its pause on strikes amid peace talks, and Tehran once again rejected Trump’s demand that damage to shipping vessels be paid for with frozen Iranian assets.
Seeking unity in Cyprus. United Nations chief António Guterres launched a new effort on Tuesday to bridge ethnic divides between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The rare visit to the island is the first by a U.N. secretary-general since 2010, and it comes less than six months before Guterres concludes his tenure at the international organization’s helm.
During Tuesday’s trip, Guterres held separate talks with Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Tufan Erhurman, who was elected in October to lead the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The three officials will hold a trilateral meeting on Wednesday in the U.N.-controlled, 112-mile-long buffer zone that divides the Mediterranean island.
“I will do everything I can to support the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in this very important moment,” Guterres said on Tuesday. But, he added, “it depends obviously on the Cypriots themselves.” Christodoulides wants to resume negotiations from where they left off in 2017 in the hopes of establishing a single federal state with two politically equal constituent zones. In the past, Turkish Cypriot leadership has sought a two-state solution; however, Erhurman has deviated from his predecessor and instead also supports the 2017 proposal.
Happy birthday, Punch! Japan’s beloved macaque turned 1 at the Ichikawa City Zoo on Sunday, to the tune of thousands of well wishes from around the world. Over the past several months, the cheeky monkey has become an internet sensation for his reliance on an orangutan plush toy to cope with his mother’s abandonment. But at 1 year old, Punch is now confident enough to make friends without clinging to his stuffed animal for emotional support. They grow up so fast!
