Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to France this week to persuade skeptical G7 partners to support the U.S. approach to the war with Iran, the State Department announced Tuesday. Rubio is scheduled to attend a G7 foreign ministers meeting near Versailles on Friday to press U.S. priorities and explore areas for cooperation on shared security concerns.
Department officials said the discussions will cover the Russia-Ukraine war, the situation in the Middle East and other threats to international peace and stability. The announcement came as conflicting accounts emerged about whether U.S. and Iranian officials have held talks aimed at resolving the crisis.
President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. and Iran had engaged in discussions, a claim Iran denied. Diplomats from several countries are also taking preliminary steps to find an off-ramp to the confrontation that has disrupted global energy markets: oil prices have surged after the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed to most shipping, including tankers.
Most other G7 members — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — have been cool to the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran and have declined to join the operation. That stance has drawn criticism from Trump, who has said the U.S. does not need their assistance but has pressed allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In recent days, some G7 and NATO partners signaled a readiness to support appropriate measures to restore normal traffic through the critical waterway, even as tensions and diplomatic uncertainty continue ahead of the Paris meeting.