Two of Donald Trump’s top national security aides will hold talks in Paris on Thursday with European politicians and security advisers, as the US and Europe search for common ground on ending the Ukraine war and averting an Iran conflict.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, are expected to hear concerns about Russia amid so-far fruitless US attempts to arrange a ceasefire three years after Russia invaded its neighbour.
Rubio and Witkoff will meet the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as well as British and German figures, including the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy.
Top Ukrainian officials were also in Paris, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief-of-staff said. “I have just landed in Paris. We arrived together with foreign minister Andriy Sybiga and defence minister Rustem Umerov,” Andriy Yermak wrote on social media, adding they planned to meet representatives of France, Germany, Britain and the United States, without specifying who.
The US president’s frustration with Russia and Ukraine over the war has been increasing and he has been threatening military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.
European leaders have grown more concerned as Trump has heaped pressure and criticism on Zelenskyy, while instead making diplomatic gestures to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The Polish foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said on Monday that he hoped Trump and his administration would see that Putin was “mocking their goodwill” after Moscow’s deadly missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
No specific proposals for the talks have been made public.
France, Britain and Germany were surprised by Trump opening discussions on improving ties with Russia, but have sought a coordinated European response to protecting Ukraine during the conflict and in any ceasefire.
Britain and France have proposed a mainly European “reassurance” force prepared to go to Ukraine if a ceasefire starts. However, many European leaders say it would need US support.
Besides Macron, the French foreign ministry said Rubio would also meet his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, to discuss Ukraine, prospects for a new Iran nuclear deal and the Middle East.
Witkoff plans to fly on to Rome for a second round of discussions on Saturday with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, about Iran’s nuclear programme. They met for 45 minutes in Oman on Saturday. Both sides described those talks as positive while acknowledging any potential deal remained distant.
Trump said on Monday he was willing to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities if a deal was not reached.
On Tuesday, he held a meeting with top national security advisers at the White House focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, according to sources familiar with the encounter.
The US had not told European countries about the nuclear talks in Oman before Trump announced them, even though they hold a key card on the possible reimposition of UN sanctions on Tehran.
Thursday’s talks will be an opportunity for potential coordination between US and Europe.
Trump has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February after ditching a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Trump said on Monday he believed Iran was intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the US and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on atomic facilities.
With Reuters
