Encountered leaders in Middle Eastern territory (3)
I believe the answer is:
met
'encountered' is the definition.
('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter')
'leaders in middle eastern territory' is the wordplay.
'leaders in' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'middle eastern territory' is 'MET'.
(Other definitions for met that I've seen before include "gathered together" , "Encountered, came into contact" , "Encountered, came across" , "Encountered or touched" , "London police (abbr) - New York Museum of Art (abbr)" .)