Trump says Zelenskyy is coming to the White House to sign US-Ukraine critical minerals deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a long-sought minerals deal that will closely tie the two countries together for years to come.

Trump made the announcement at the start of the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, hailing the deal as “a very big agreement.”

The Republican president has long complained that the United States has spent too much taxpayer money to support Ukraine in the war with Russia that began when the Kremlin invaded three years ago. Trump has framed the emerging deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine's deposits of so-called rare earth minerals — used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries — as a chance for Kyiv to pay back the U.S. for aid already sent for the war effort under Democratic President Joe Biden.

“The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we’ve been able to make a deal where we’re going to get the money back and and a lot of money in the future,” Trump said.

Zelenskyy said a news conference early Wednesday in Kyiv that a framework of an economic deal had been reached, but that it did not yet include U.S. security guarantees, which his country sees as vital. The full agreement could hinge on the upcoming talks in Washington.

The framework is a preliminary step toward a comprehensive package that will be subject to ratification by the Ukrainian parliament, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine needs to know first where the U.S. stands on its continued military support, Zelenskyy said. He said he expected a wide-ranging conversation with Trump.

The economic agreement "may be part of future security guarantees, but I want to understand the broader vision. What awaits Ukraine?” Zelensky said.

But Trump, in announcing the meeting, was noncommittal about any coming American security guarantees.

“I’m not going to make security guarantees ... very much,” Trump said. "We're going to have Europe do that."

He said a U.S. presence working on mineral extraction would amount to "automatic security because nobody’s going to be messing around with our people when we’re there."

“It’s a great deal for Ukraine too, because they get us over there and we’re going to be working over there,” Trump said. “We will be on the land.”

Trump also said Ukraine “could forget about” joining NATO, the Western military alliance, and he hopes to soon speak face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin about reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that began when Moscow invaded in February 2022.

The Republican president declined to detail what concessions he would ask the two sides to make, but he underscored his administration’s position that Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO, the Western military alliance, is not tenable.

“NATO, you can forget about it,” Trump said. “I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”

Since returning to office last month, Trump let Ukraine know that he wanted something in return for tens of billions of dollars in U.S. help for Ukraine. The White House has applied heavy pressure on Ukraine to grant American access to its vast reserves of the minerals.

Zelenskyy balked at initial U.S. offers, arguing they did not contain adequate security assurances for Ukraine and that the proposed price tag of $500 billion would saddle generations of Ukrainians with debt. But Kyiv is also keen to use the investments as a way of locking the U.S. into Ukraine’s fate.

The latest version of the agreement, seen by The Associated Press, says the U.S. “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.” It does not spell out any U.S. commitment to provide them.

“Participants will seek to identify any necessary steps to protect mutual investments as defined in the ... agreement,” it says.

After Zelenskyy spoke, a White House official made clear that accepting the agreement would be a precondition of Trump’s invitation to meet Friday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the invitation.

“This agreement may either be a great success or quietly fade away," Zelenskyy said. "And I believe success depends on our conversation with President Trump.”

“I want to coordinate with the U.S.,” Zelenskyy said.

Trump has abruptly ditched some previous Washington policies. He scrapped efforts to isolate Putin and cast doubt on U.S. support for its European allies. That has brought momentous geopolitical shifts that could reset the war’s path this year.

Diplomats from Russia and the U.S. will meet Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

Zelenskyy said he wants to discuss with Trump whether the U.S. plans to halt military aid and, if so, whether Ukraine would be able to purchase weapons directly from the U.S. He also wants to know whether Ukraine can use frozen Russian assets for the purchase of weapons and investments and whether Washington plans to lift sanctions on Russia.

The preliminary economic agreement also sets out the terms and conditions of an investment fund for the rebuilding of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

Arhirova and Spike reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, A Russian Army sniper fires toward Ukrainian position at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, a Russian Army self-propelled 220 mm multiple rocket launcher Uragan (Hurricane) fires toward Ukrainian position at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Two purported mobsters were convicted Thursday of plotting to assassinate Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her home in New York City in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by Iran's government.

The verdict was returned at a federal court in New York, ending a two-week trial that featured dramatic testimony from a hired gunman and Alinejad, an author, activist and contributor to Voice of America.

Alinejad, who was not in court, told The Associated Press she cried when she learned of the verdict.

“I am relieved that after nearly three years, the men who plotted to kill me have been found guilty. But make no mistake, the real masterminds of this crime are still in power in Iran,” she said. “Right now I am bombarded with emotions. I have cried. I have laughed. I have even danced.”

Alinejad called the verdict “a powerful gift from the American government” to the people of Iran because it shows that justice is beginning to be served.

Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement that the verdict sent a message that “if you target U.S. citizens, we will find you, no matter where you are, and bring you to justice.”

Leslie R. Backschies, who heads the FBI's New York office, said the verdicts show that the “Iranian government's shameless conduct and attempt to violate our laws and assassinate a critic of their human rights atrocities will not be tolerated.”

Prosecutors said the convicted men, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, were crime bosses in the Russian mob. Their lawyers argued that they were innocent and trial evidence was flawed.

Alinejad, 48, was targeted by Iran for her online campaigns encouraging women there to record videos of themselves exposing their hair in violation of edicts requiring they cover it in public.

Iran offered $500,000 for a July 2022 killing of Alinejad after efforts to harass, smear and intimidate her failed, prosecutors said.

American officials have accused Iran of backing several assassination plots in the United States, including against President Donald Trump when he was campaigning last year. Tehran has denied being behind any such plots.

Alinejad testified last week that she came to the United States in 2009 after she was banned from covering Iran's disputed presidential election and the newspaper where she worked was shut down.

Establishing herself in New York City, she built an online audience of millions and launched her “My Stealthy Freedom” campaign, telling Iranian women to send photos and videos exposing of them showing their hair when the morality police were not around.

Soon, she said, she had inspired women to take to the streets in Iran on Wednesdays to peacefully protest, leading the government to arrest hundreds of them. The crackdown only caused her following to grow, however.

Prosecutors said at trial that by 2022, the Iranian government had enlisted organized crime figures including Amirov and Omarov to kill Alinejad.

Khalid Mehdiyev, a former member of the Russian mob who lived Yonkers and worked at a pizzeria, testified that he was hired as the hitman. Like Amirov and Omarov, he is from Azerbaijan, which shares a border and cultural ties with Iran.

Mehdiyev, who cooperated with prosecutors after pleading guilty to multiple crimes, said he bought an AK-47 to kill Alinejad but the plan was foiled when his car was stopped by police and the gun was found in the back seat in July 2022. A doorbell camera at Alinejad's home recorded Mehdiyev standing on her front porch.

Prosecutors have kept the investigation open. In October they announced charges against a senior Iranian military official and three others, none of whom are in custody.

In a separate case, U.S. prosecutors in 2022 charged a man in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard with plotting to kill former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton.

Iranian officials vowed to exact revenge against Trump and others in his former administration over the 2020 drone strike that killed the prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

Alinejad said she has had to move nearly two dozen times since the assassination plot was discovered, at times feeling guilty that so many of her followers in Iran lack a safety net.

That, she said, only “makes me more determined to give voice to voiceless people.”

Masih Alinejad greets friends and supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of two men accused of allegedly plotting to kill her in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Masih Alinejad greets friends and supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of her alleged would-be assassins in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Masih Alinejad greets friends and supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of her would-be assassins in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Masih Alinejad blows a kiss to supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of her would-be assassins in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Masih Alinejad, 48, a prominent Iranian American human rights activist gives an interview Press in Berlin, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

Masih Alinejad greets friends and supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of her would-be assassins in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Masih Alinejad greets friends and supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of two men accused of allegedly plotting to kill her in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Masih Alinejad greets friends and supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of her would-be assassins in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)