US President Donald Trump speaks during a Working Breakfast with Governors at the White House in Washington, DC on February 20, 2026. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) United States President Donald Trump hosted Germany’s Friedrich Merz on Tuesday for his first visit with a foreign leader since joining Israel in strikes on Iran that have dragged the Mideast into war. The long-scheduled White House meeting was supposed to focus on the war in Ukraine and rocky EU-US trade relations, part of a wider effort to salvage frayed transatlantic ties. But Trump’s signal that airstrikes against Iran could go on for weeks has upended the global agenda, with Tehran striking back against US bases and allies in the region. Merz, a harsh critic of the Islamic Republic’s leadership, said Berlin shared the Ir...