France Says Macron and China’s Xi Agreed to Step up Efforts on Iran Nuclear Deal

French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a China-France Economic Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China November 6, 2019. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a China-France Economic Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China November 6, 2019. (Reuters)
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France Says Macron and China’s Xi Agreed to Step up Efforts on Iran Nuclear Deal

French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a China-France Economic Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China November 6, 2019. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a China-France Economic Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China November 6, 2019. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron and China's President Xi Jinping both agreed on Wednesday on the need to step up their joint efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, said a statement from Macron's office on Wednesday.

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council had said earlier on Twitter on Wednesday that the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers had become an "empty shell."

Iran and major world powers are currently in Vienna to revive the nuclear deal that former-US President Donald Trump left in 2018 by imposing crippling sanctions on Iran's economy.

France's foreign minister said on Wednesday that a decision on salvaging the deal was just days away, but that it was now up to Tehran to make the political choice.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the tattered agreement resumed last week after a 10-day hiatus and officials from the other parties to the accord - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - have shuttled between the two sides as they seek to close gaps.

Western diplomats previously indicated they hoped to have a breakthrough by now, but tough issues remain unresolved. Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers.



Zelenskiy Says Trump is in Disinformation Bubble on Ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 19, 2025, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine. TETIANA DZHAFAROVA/Pool via REUTERS
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 19, 2025, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine. TETIANA DZHAFAROVA/Pool via REUTERS
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Zelenskiy Says Trump is in Disinformation Bubble on Ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 19, 2025, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine. TETIANA DZHAFAROVA/Pool via REUTERS
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 19, 2025, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine. TETIANA DZHAFAROVA/Pool via REUTERS

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hit back on Wednesday at Donald Trump's suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the US president was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble.

Speaking ahead of talks with Trump's Ukraine envoy a day after Trump said Ukraine "should never have started" the conflict, Zelenskiy said he would like Trump's team to have "more truth" about Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader said Trump's assertion that his approval rating was just 4% was Russian disinformation and that any attempt to replace him would fail, Reuters reported.

"We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump ... unfortunately lives in this disinformation space," Zelenskiy told Ukrainian TV.

Less than a month into his presidency, Trump has upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia, ending Washington's bid to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine with a Trump-Putin phone call and talks between senior US and Russian officials.

Trump said he may meet Putin this month. The Kremlin said such a meeting could take longer to prepare but Russia's sovereign wealth fund said it expected a number of US companies to return to Russia as early as the second quarter.

The US-Russia talks on ending the war in Ukraine have excluded both Ukraine and Europe, which Trump says must step up to guarantee any ceasefire. Zelenskiy has suggested giving US companies the right to extract valuable minerals in Ukraine in return for US security guarantees, but indicated that Trump was not offering that.

Zelenskiy told a press conference the US had given Ukraine $67 billion in weapons and $31.5 billion in budget support, and that American demands for $500 billion in minerals are "not a serious conversation", and that he could not sell his country.

He was expected to meet visiting US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, who said as he arrived in Kyiv that he expected substantial talks as the war approaches its three-year mark.

"We understand the need for security guarantees," Kellogg told journalists, saying that part of his mission would be "to sit and listen".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lauded Trump for saying that previous US support of Ukraine's bid to join the NATO military alliance was a major cause of the war in Ukraine.