Marco Rubio to visit France to sell Iran war to skeptical G7 allies

The State Department said Rubio will attend a meeting of the Group of Seven foreign ministers on Friday near Versailles outside Paris “to advance critical U.S. interests” and “to discuss shared security concerns and opportunities for cooperation.”

“Areas of focus will include the Russia-Ukraine war, the situation in the Middle East, and threats to peace and stability around the world,” the State Department said in a statement. There are conflicting accounts of whether the United States and Iran are discussing a resolution to the conflict.

president Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States and Iran Discussions took place but Iran denied this. Many other countries have also joined in new efforts to find outlets for the crisis, which has sent oil prices soaring as the Strait of Hormuz is closed to most shipping, including tankers.

Nearly all other Group of Seven countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – have responded tepidly at best to U.S. and Israeli military action against Iran and have refused to participate, drawing Trump’s ire even as he insists the U.S. does not need their help.

Trump has lashed out at some G7 members and NATO allies for not responding to his calls for help in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, although some of them have expressed in recent days a willingness to support appropriate action to restore normal traffic in the main waterway.