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France Working with Allies on Plan Should US Move on Greenland

Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)
Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)
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France Working with Allies on Plan Should US Move on Greenland

Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)
Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)

France is working with partners on a plan over how to respond should the United States act on its threat to take over Greenland, a minister said on Wednesday, as Europe sought ​to address US President Donald Trump's ambitions in the region.

A US military seizure of Greenland from a longtime ally, Denmark, would send shockwaves through the NATO alliance and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day.

"We want to take action, but ‌we want to ‌do so together with our European partners," ‌he ⁠said ​on France ‌Inter radio.

Leaders from major European powers and Canada have rallied behind Greenland this week, saying the Arctic island belongs to its people, following a renewed threat by Trump to take over the territory.

TRUMP RENEWS GREENLAND AMBITIONS

Trump has in recent days repeated that he wants to gain control of Greenland, an idea first voiced in 2019 during his first presidency. He ⁠has argued it is key for the US military and that Denmark has not ‌done enough to protect it.

The White House ‍said on Tuesday that Trump ‍was discussing options for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the US ‍military, in a revival of his ambition to control the strategic island, despite European objections.

Barrot suggested a US military operation had been ruled out by a top US official.

"I myself was on the phone yesterday with US ​Secretary of State Marco Rubio (...) who confirmed that this was not the approach taken ... he ruled out the possibility of ⁠an invasion (of Greenland)," he said.

A US military operation over the weekend that seized the leader of Venezuela had already rekindled concerns that Greenland might face a similar scenario. It has repeatedly said it does not want to be part of the United States.

The world's largest island but with a population of just 57,000 people, Greenland is not an independent member of NATO but is covered by Denmark's membership of the Western alliance.

The island is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defense system ‌for decades. Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington's ambition to reduce reliance on China.

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World

Rubio Says US Will Not Accept Iranian Tolls on Hormuz

Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 22, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 22, 2026. (Reuters)
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Rubio Says US Will Not Accept Iranian Tolls on Hormuz

Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 22, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 22, 2026. (Reuters)

Washington's top diplomat insisted Tuesday that the US would not accept any attempt to impose tolls or fees on Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway where the UN said it would begin evacuating thousands of sailors stranded by the Middle East war 

The US and Iran have signed a preliminary deal to halt the war, and concluded a first round of talks in Switzerland as part of a 60-day negotiation period to settle outstanding issues like sanctions relief and the fate of Tehran's nuclear program. 

An Iranian blockade that began early in the conflict choked off maritime traffic through the Hormuz strait -- sending global oil prices surging -- but crossings have begun to rise again since the US-Iran deal was inked. 

Iran has repeatedly maintained it will retain control over the waterway, including on Tuesday, when it and Oman said in a joint statement that they would study the administration of the trade route and the costs to be charged for services provided, insisting on their sovereignty over the strait. 

But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, kicking off a regional tour, reiterated Washington's position that such an arrangement would be unacceptable. 

"It's an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway," he said from Abu Dhabi, adding that he believed "all the countries in this region would agree". 

Tehran's top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, had earlier insisted the Strait of Hormuz "will never return" to the pre-war status quo, despite the foes agreeing to set up communication lines to keep it open. 

- Muscat meeting - 

Oman and Iran agreed on Tuesday to press on with discussions about the future administration of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. 

In a joint statement issued after talks in Muscat, they said a joint working group involving their foreign ministries ‌would be ‌formed to continue the discussions and ‌that they ⁠would consult other ⁠littoral states and relevant parties.  

The move appears to implement a provision of the memorandum of understanding signed last week that calls for Iran to hold talks with Oman and other states on the future management of ⁠navigation and maritime services in the strait, ‌a vital waterway ‌for global oil supplies.  

The agreement was announced following a ‌visit by Speaker Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who met Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq and held talks with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi.  

In the statement, Oman and ‌Iran, the two states bordering the strait, reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring ⁠safe ⁠passage through the waterway in accordance with international law while underlining sovereignty over their territorial waters.  

Since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran in February, the strait has been largely closed to commercial shipping. The United States blockaded Iranian ports after Iran started effectively blocking the strait.  

Oman and Iran reaffirmed their commitment to the strait being a secure and open route for international navigation and to promoting maritime safety, freedom of navigation and regional stability. 

The head of the UN's International Maritime Organization, meanwhile, said it would begin evacuating more than 11,000 sailors stranded by the Hormuz blockade in cooperation with Iran, Oman and the United States, adding it had "secured the necessary safety guarantees". 

Traffic through the strait on Monday reached the highest level since the start of the war, according to two maritime tracking platforms, representing just over 40 percent of the normal peacetime level of about 120 vessels per day. 

World

Tehran Gets Three-Day Holiday for Ali Khamenei Funeral

An Iranian man walks past a banner depicting slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei at Valiasr Square in Tehran on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
An Iranian man walks past a banner depicting slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei at Valiasr Square in Tehran on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Tehran Gets Three-Day Holiday for Ali Khamenei Funeral

An Iranian man walks past a banner depicting slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei at Valiasr Square in Tehran on June 15, 2026. (AFP)
An Iranian man walks past a banner depicting slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei at Valiasr Square in Tehran on June 15, 2026. (AFP)

Iran announced Tuesday three days of public holidays in the capital Tehran for late supreme leader Ali Khamenei's funeral ceremonies, state television reported.

"The farewell ceremony and prayers for the martyred leader's body will be held on Saturday and Sunday, July 4th and 5th, in Tehran's Grand Mosalla, and the funeral will be held on Monday, July 6th, and Tehran province will be off for these three days," Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Hassan Hassanzadeh, in charge of the ceremonies, was quoted as saying.

Earlier, state media said Tehran would be on holiday on July 4 and 5, while the rest of the country will join it on July 6.

Tehran authorities expect an attendance of around 20 million.

The northern city of Qom will also host a tribute on July 7.

Ali Khamenei will be laid to rest on July 9 in the northeastern city of Mashhad, his birthplace.

These two cities will also observe public holidays.

Neighboring Iraq has scheduled ceremonies for July 8.

The funeral was originally planned for March but was postponed due to the war in the Middle East, which was triggered by the US-Israeli attacks in February that killed Khamenei.

Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba succeeded his father as supreme leader in early March, becoming the third person to hold the position since the regime was established in 1979.

Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the bombing that killed his father and other officials. He has not been seen in public since his appointment and communicates solely through official statements.

World

China’s Newest Aircraft Carrier Sails Through the Taiwan Strait

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, China's third conventionally powered aircraft carrier, the Fujian, conducts a maiden sea trial on May 7, 2024. (Ding Ziyu/Xinhua via AP, File)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, China's third conventionally powered aircraft carrier, the Fujian, conducts a maiden sea trial on May 7, 2024. (Ding Ziyu/Xinhua via AP, File)
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China’s Newest Aircraft Carrier Sails Through the Taiwan Strait

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, China's third conventionally powered aircraft carrier, the Fujian, conducts a maiden sea trial on May 7, 2024. (Ding Ziyu/Xinhua via AP, File)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, China's third conventionally powered aircraft carrier, the Fujian, conducts a maiden sea trial on May 7, 2024. (Ding Ziyu/Xinhua via AP, File)

China’s newest and most powerful of its three aircraft carriers sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the Taiwanese defense ministry said, a day after Taiwan began a five-day military exercise on responding to a Chinese attack.

The Fujian carrier first sailed through the narrow body of water separating China and Taiwan in a trial run last September. It later transited the strait for the first time as a fully commissioned military vessel in December.

China claims the self-governed island as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control. China regularly sends navy vessels and war planes towards Taiwan in military exercises that have become more frequent in recent years to where they now occur almost daily.

Taiwan on Monday kicked off its own five-day exercise to support its response in case of a possible Chinese military invasion.

The US Navy sends warships through the strait periodically, as do some of its allies, in a warning to Beijing against any attempt to use force to establish its claim to the island.

The Fujian was commissioned in November 2025. It is world’s largest nonnuclear-powered warship, according to the US Naval Institute, and is considered more advanced than China's other two carriers, the Shandong and the Liaoning.