WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to France this week to press reluctant G7 partners to endorse the U.S. approach to the Iran crisis, the State Department announced Tuesday.
Rubio is set to attend a G7 foreign ministers meeting near Versailles on Friday, where officials said he will work to promote core U.S. interests and explore areas for cooperation on shared security concerns.
U.S. officials said discussions will cover the war in Ukraine, developments in the Middle East and other threats to regional and global stability. The trip comes as reports conflict over whether Washington and Tehran have held talks aimed at defusing the confrontation.
President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. and Iran have engaged in discussions, a claim Tehran has denied. Diplomats from other countries are also involved in early efforts to find an off-ramp to the standoff, which has contributed to higher oil prices after the Strait of Hormuz was largely closed to shipping, including oil tankers.
Nearly all other G7 members — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — have been cool to the U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran and have declined to participate, prompting public frustration from Trump even as he asserts the United States can act without them.
Trump has publicly criticized several G7 and NATO allies for not answering his appeals to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In recent days, some of those countries have signaled a readiness to support suitable measures to restore normal maritime traffic.