G7 Leaders Meet in France after US and Iran Declare Agreement to End War

Barbed wire fences surround a French Army military zone on the shore of Lake Geneva, in Evian-les-Bains, France, 06 June 2026. EPA/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT
Barbed wire fences surround a French Army military zone on the shore of Lake Geneva, in Evian-les-Bains, France, 06 June 2026. EPA/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT
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G7 Leaders Meet in France after US and Iran Declare Agreement to End War

Barbed wire fences surround a French Army military zone on the shore of Lake Geneva, in Evian-les-Bains, France, 06 June 2026. EPA/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT
Barbed wire fences surround a French Army military zone on the shore of Lake Geneva, in Evian-les-Bains, France, 06 June 2026. EPA/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations meet at a French lakeside resort on Monday shortly after the US and Iran said they had reached a preliminary deal to end their war.

Discussing next steps on Iran will be one of several issues the global leaders will wrestle with during the June 15-17 summit, which will also seek common ground on the war in Ukraine, tackling global economic imbalances and sourcing critical minerals outside of the dominant supplier China, Reuters said.

US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in Evian-les-Bains on Monday for the gathering at a time when global leaders are increasingly wary of the United States, although French officials were glad to have secured his presence after he ‌left last year's ‌G7 summit in Canada early.

Many G7 leaders have been directly impacted ‌by ⁠Trump's volatile moves on ⁠the global stage that have upended the Middle East, global trade and diplomacy. His actions have led to larger questions about the US commitment to the post-war global order it helped establish.

Trump is due to meet with Middle Eastern leaders and attend a working session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during the summit.

The Zelenskiy meeting on Tuesday comes at a time when Russian advances in Ukraine have slowed and Ukraine seeks more military funding from its allies.

Zelenskiy's hand has improved since Trump famously told him in the Oval Office last year: "You don't have the ⁠cards".

But he may find greater US support elusive as Trump prioritizes drawing a ‌line under then Iran conflict, which has dented his support ‌domestically.

IRAN DEAL

G7 leaders will be keen to learn the details of the US-Iran deal. A memorandum of understanding is ‌scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland but precise terms were not immediately known.

Trump said the ‌Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route for global oil and gas supplies that Iran has effectively shut down for months, would open on Friday, and that he had ordered the end of the US blockade of Iranian ports.

In a statement, the secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, would ‌end permanently starting on Monday night.

Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said a more expansive agreement would be negotiated during a 60-day ceasefire period, including sanctions ⁠relief for Iran. Iran's nuclear ⁠program will be addressed in those later talks, sources had previously told Reuters.

The United Arab Emirates, directly harmed by the war, and key mediators Qatar and Egypt will also attend the G7.

MACRON'S MOMENT

Trump will be greeted on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron, for whom this summit serves as a diplomatic capstone for his second and final term in office, which draws to a close next year.

Macron is increasingly seen as a lame duck domestically but he still has pull on the global stage, and was able to get Trump to agree to a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday.

Macron has sought to use France's presidency of the G7 to push for action on global macroeconomic imbalances, a longstanding US concern, before Washington takes the chair of the G20 this year and the G7 next. France has framed the issue as a shared responsibility in that China overproduces, the United States overconsumes and Europe underinvests.

Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea have been invited to the G7 to join the discussion, while Macron has urged China to boost its own consumption.



Israel Concerned about US-Iran Deal but Does Not Want to Anger Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the Knesset on June 3. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the Knesset on June 3. (Reuters)
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Israel Concerned about US-Iran Deal but Does Not Want to Anger Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the Knesset on June 3. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the Knesset on June 3. (Reuters)

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been forced to praise the US-Iran deal and to choose words that appease US President Donald Trump, Israeli military and political officials expressed deep concern over the emerging agreement, likely to be officially signed next Friday.

Israeli officials fear the deal may fail to eliminate the threats posed by Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and could also restrict Israel's freedom of action against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Officials said Israel cannot return to the reality before the October 7, 2023, attack, when it says its hands were tied while threats built up along its borders.

Current Israeli government officials have said little about the Trump-Iran understanding, apparently for fear of upsetting the US leader. Instead, the Israeli military leaked statements on behalf of a “senior military source” expressing concern about the cessation of operations in Lebanon.

Israeli officials said the text of the agreement remains “an enigma,” not explicitly speaking about the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program, the obliteration of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and production capacity, and Iran’s ability to connect itself to its proxies. They listed Israel’s five main problems with the proposal:

First, there are no clear answers regarding the treatment of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, and not enough curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

Second, the text of the deal does not clearly mention Iran’s intention to stop the production of ballistic missiles.

Third, the key unresolved question is how much funds Iran will receive. A compromise has been reached: Iran will not receive cash, but will be able to purchase medicine and food using frozen funds. The Americans insist that frozen assets will not be released before the uranium stockpiles are addressed, but that issue will be negotiated later.

Fourth, the deal lays out no clear mechanism for forcing Iran to halt its support for its proxy forces, including Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas.

Fifth, Israel had not been a party to the Trump administration’s negotiations with Iran and is being left out of the potential peace.

Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a senior Israeli official saying on Saturday evening that the agreement expected to be signed between the United States and Iran is “not a good deal,” warning that Israel has little ability to influence the process despite the direct impact it could have on its security.

The official said the deal would be followed by negotiations expected to last 60 days. The resources Iran would receive during the roughly two months of negotiations and afterward could, at least in theory, allow the regime to rebuild its nuclear project and its ballistic missile program.

The newspaper said the American president is acting according to his own political and US interests.

“The frequent calls between Netanyahu and Trump appear to have only marginal influence. Israel is not only failing to shape the talks, it also does not really know what is happening inside them,” it wrote.

Trump and Netanyahu spoke by phone about the emerging deal with Iran, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

In a statement that intended to downplay the significance of the potential agreement, Netanyahu’s office said the two spoke about “the emerging memorandum of understanding with Iran regarding entry into negotiations.”

In the conversation, Netanyahu expressed a rather optimistic take on an agreement, according to his office.

“Although Israel is not a party to the memorandum of understanding,” his office said, “the prime minister expressed his appreciation for President Trump’s commitment that the final agreement reached at the conclusion of the negotiations will include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limitations on missile production, and the cessation of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region.”


German Top Diplomat Says Strait of Hormuz Must Be Navigable Without Restrictions

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban (not pictured) in Berlin, Germany, 10 June 2026. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban (not pictured) in Berlin, Germany, 10 June 2026. (EPA)
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German Top Diplomat Says Strait of Hormuz Must Be Navigable Without Restrictions

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban (not pictured) in Berlin, Germany, 10 June 2026. (EPA)
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul speaks during a press conference with Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban (not pictured) in Berlin, Germany, 10 June 2026. (EPA)

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz must be made navigable again ‌without any ‌restrictions after ‌US ⁠and Iranian officials said ⁠they had reached an agreement to end their war and ⁠reopen the vital ‌shipping ‌route.

"It must ‌be made clear ‌that the Strait of Hormuz is once again open ‌to shipping, without any restrictions ⁠whatsoever ⁠and without any possibility of levying customs duties or similar charges," Wadephul said before meeting with European counterparts in Luxembourg.

US and Iranian officials said they had reached an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a preliminary pact that sent oil prices falling but leaves the fate of Tehran's nuclear program to further negotiations.

While still a framework, the deal marked the biggest breakthrough towards resolving the conflict that has killed thousands and upended energy markets since it began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

"The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at around 5:30 p.m. in Washington (2130 GMT) on Sunday.

His post came shortly after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has served as a mediator, announced a deal had been struck early on Monday local time.

The memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland.

The precise terms were not immediately known. Sharif said in a post on X that the pact called for "the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon."

Lebanon has been a sticking point in negotiations, with Israel and Hezbollah ignoring calls from Trump and others to stop their attacks on each other in recent weeks.


Macron: French-UK Mission 'Ready' to Aid Hormuz Reopening

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
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Macron: French-UK Mission 'Ready' to Aid Hormuz Reopening

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference after talks with Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic in Cetinje, Montenegro, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

France's president on Monday said that a military mission set up by Paris and Britain to help with Strait of Hormuz traffic was ready to deploy, following the announcement of a deal to end the Middle East war.

His comments came after Washington and Tehran said they reached an agreement to end the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran in February, with a deal to be signed on Friday in Switzerland, said AFP.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is due to host US counterpart Donald Trump for a G7 meeting later on Monday, said that the UK-France mission's "assets are in place and ready to be deployed."

"The resumption of maritime traffic, without restrictions or tolls, is an essential condition for regional stability and the global economy," he said in a post on X.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital waterway for energy supplies that was effectively blockaded by Iran since the start of the war.