The Latest: Trump at G7 summit for talks with world leaders on Iran and Ukraine

Audio By Carbonatix

Leaders of the Group of Seven gathered on Tuesday to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine along with a tentative deal struck by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the conflict with Iran.

The first full day of the G7 summit of leading industrialized nations is being held in the French town of Evian-les-Bains.

Shortly before his arrival, Trump announced an agreement to end the 3 1/2-month-old U.S. war against Iran.

“Now that this (Iran) is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that,” Trump said.

The leaders will also hold a working session focused on ending crises and ensuring stability in the Middle East. They are expected to discuss the global economic crisis resulting from the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will join the talks.

The G7 includes France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Guest nations at this summit include Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, South Korea, Qatar, Ukraine and the UAE.

Here is the latest:

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not receive an invitation from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend the G7 summit through official channels.

Asked whether such an invitation had been made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Of course there wasn’t. As you know, there aren’t even any official channels between Moscow and Kyiv.”

Peskov said Putin has repeatedly said Zelenskyy could go to Moscow. “If Zelenskyy is ready to talk responsibly and seriously...he can always come to Moscow, where he will be received,” Peskov said.

Zelenskyy and Trump have held talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.

Zelenskyy posted photos of the meeting on social media, writing that “it is always important to coordinate positions.”

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took part, the photos showed. In one image, the two leaders sat close enough that their knees nearly touched.

The encounter between the two presidents “was in the context of the general meeting at the summit,” Zelenskyy’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters, suggesting a separate meeting would take place later.

The leaders of the G7 are holding a meeting with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and the UAE.

They are attending a working lunch dubbed “Addressing Crises and Ensuring Stability in the Middle East.”

The Middle East countries are not G7 members, but were invited to the summit at a tumultuous moment for the region and beyond because of the Iran war.

Ceasefire should ‘mean a definitive end to Iran’s nuclear program,’ EU says

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Trump at the G7 summit and then took to social media to congratulate him on striking a ceasefire with Tehran.

“We both agree that it should mean a definitive end to Iran’s nuclear programme. The Strait will reopen. Oil prices are falling. And that’s how diplomacy delivers,” von der Leyen said in a post.

Economies across the European Union have been rattled by rising fuel and fertilizer prices.

G7 leaders have agreed to increase pressure on Russia, including through sanctions targeting its oil and natural gas sectors, a French diplomat familiar with the summit talks said.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said G7 leaders held “very fruitful” discussions on Ukraine during a session attended by Zelenskyy.

They also agreed on a common position to support Ukraine in its war against Russia by providing additional air defense capabilities and other means of protection, the diplomat said.

Trump said he proposed asking Syria to help against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah,” Trump said. “Because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job.”

Syria has a long complicated relationship with Lebanon, with Syrian troops maintaining a military occupation in the country from 1976 to 2005.

The U.K. will “play our full part” in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, though he declined to confirm when British warships could be in the area.

Speaking at the G7 summit, he said leaders of the group of wealthy nations were discussing next steps to reopen the strait.

Britain and France have assembled a group of countries that Starmer said are “prepared to play their part in terms of reassurance to get vessels through the strait.”

The U.S. is “not investing any money in Iran,” Trump said.

“That rumor got out there yesterday, it was ridiculous,” he told reporters. “We have no obligation to invest any money in Iran.”

The president made the comment a day after senior U.S. officials told reporters that a memorandum of understanding includes a $300 billion fund to help rebuild if Tehran meets certain benchmarks.

Trump denied the claim twice on Tuesday during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Trump said he is “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”

“They should have been able to deal with them faster,” Trump told reporters in reference to Israeli operations to target Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

“It just goes on forever. And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal. And that’s the deal with Iran,” he said.

The U.S. president said he wants to focus on Ukraine, adding that the issue of Iran will soon be “back in the rear view mirror.”

Trump, who said he will meet with Zelenskyy for further talks, downplayed the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine on the U.S., but lamented the death toll.

“The whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said. “So, yeah, I’m going to do whatever I can.”

Trump and Sheikh Tamim have much to discuss with the U.S. and Iran expected to formally sign a ceasefire settlement later this week and open up negotiations about Tehran’s nuclear program.

“You’ll always be my friend,” Trump said at the start of the bilateral meeting.

The emir in turned thanked Trump for his leadership, adding that the ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran “is a very important deal” but much work remains to be done.

The desert peninsula of Qatar was shaken by the three-month Iran war.

Iranian strikes caused billions of dollars in damage to Qatar’s critical energy infrastructure. Experts estimate it will take three to five years to repair liquefied natural gas pipelines that were damaged by strikes.

Trump and other leaders of the G7 gathered with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an hour and 15 minutes Tuesday morning at the summit in Evian-les-Bains.

The talks focused on how to “build peace and security for Ukraine and Europe,” the French organizers of the summit said.

Macron and Zelenskyy took a little walk through the wooded garden at the Hotel Royal as they held bilateral talks before joining other G7 leaders.

French organizers of the G7 summit in the resort town of Evian-les-Bains placed Ukraine high on the agenda during efforts to end the war more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Macron said he would urge Trump to maintain U.S. support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to help secure a peace agreement.

“The right negotiation is one with Ukraine and Russia at the table, with Europeans and Americans also present,” Macron said Monday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has had a frosty relationship with Trump, gave the U.S. president a soccer jersey with Trump’s name and the number 47 on the back.

Merz approached with the jersey as Trump sat down at a conference table for a working session. Trump smiled and held it up for a photo.

The white jersey appeared to be the same one the German national team is wearing in the ongoing World Cup.

Merz and Trump exchanged barbs earlier this year after Merz said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Iran and criticized the U.S. for going into the war without any strategy.

Trump later said Merz “should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy.”

Trump is scheduled to host one-on-one talks with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan later in the morning.

The Gulf nations are not part of the G7, but Macron extended invitations to the leaders to take part in the summit at a fraught moment for the region.

G7 leaders also will convene a working lunch to discuss the situation in the Middle East, where the conversation is expected to focus on the path ahead after the ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran.

Britain has announced a new set of sanctions targeting the “shadow fleet” Russia uses to ship oil and gas and the finance networks used by Moscow to evade Western sanctions.

The sanctioned ships include several vessels recently purchased by Russia to ship liquefied natural gas from its sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project.

Britain says it has now sanctioned more than 600 shadow fleet vessels.

U.K. troops seized a Russian shadow fleet vessel in the English Channel for the first time last weekend.

The sanctions were announced as Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends the G7 summit in France. He is due to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday.

Zelenskyy is getting some time for private talks with Macron before he is scheduled to meet with the other G7 leaders, according to the French government.

Five of the seven leaders, representing Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan, were huddled in conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before the start of the first session on Ukraine.

Trump was missing. Macron, too, hadn’t arrived yet because he was with Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the morning working session with G7 leaders to discuss the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine.