By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet with his G7 counterparts in France on Friday, the State Department announced Tuesday. The gathering will mark Rubio’s first foreign trip since the United States and Israel conducted operations against Iranian targets on February 28.
The diplomatic meetings come as the Trump administration signals a shift in tone toward Tehran. President Donald Trump recently stated that the United States is engaged in talks with Iran—a claim Iranian officials have denied—while also pausing his earlier threat to target Iran’s electricity infrastructure.
Rubio will join foreign ministers from the Group of Seven in Cernay-la-Ville, near Versailles on the outskirts of Paris. France currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7, which includes Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States.
According to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott, Rubio will discuss “the Russia-Ukraine war, the situation in the Middle East and threats across the world to peace and stability.”
The G7 nations are longstanding US allies, but none have explicitly endorsed the recent US-Israeli military actions against Iran—a lack of public support that has frustrated President Trump.
Over the weekend, G7 foreign ministers issued a joint statement calling for an “immediate and unconditional” halt to Iranian-backed attacks on US allies in the Middle East.
