Rubio meets G7 ministers in France as US leads on Iran — allies under fire for tepid response

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived successful France connected Friday to be the G7 overseas ministers gathering wherever helium volition present a wide connection connected U.S. priorities for the ongoing warfare with Iran.

The divergence has drawn vexation from President Donald Trump, who has pressed allies to lend more, peculiarly successful securing cardinal maritime routes specified arsenic the Strait of Hormuz. While immoderate countries person signaled a willingness to enactment antiaircraft oregon maritime information efforts, they person stopped abbreviated of joining nonstop subject strikes.

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"The U.S. is perpetually asked to assistance successful wars and we have. But erstwhile we had a need, it didn’t get affirmative responses from NATO. A mates leaders said that Iran was not Europe’s war. Well, Ukraine isn’t our war, yet we’ve contributed much to that combat than anyone," Rubio added.

"The Strait of Hormuz could beryllium unfastened time if Iran stops threatening planetary shipping, which is an outrage and a usurpation of planetary law. For each these countries that attraction astir planetary law, they should beryllium doing thing astir it," helium said earlier boarding his level to France.

The remarks acceptable the code for a acme already marked by increasing friction betwixt Washington and immoderate of its closest allies implicit however to grip the Iran conflict. Rubio has framed the stakes successful stark terms. "Iran has been astatine warfare with the United States for 47 years… Iran has been sidesplitting Americans and attacking Americans crossed this planet," helium said during a White House furniture meeting, adding that allowing Tehran to get atomic weapons would beryllium "an unacceptable hazard for the world."

But adjacent earlier Rubio arrived astatine the meeting, European officials were signaling a markedly antithetic approach.

"We request to exit from the war, not escalate this further, due to the fact that the consequences for everybody astir the satellite are rather severe," Vice President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas said during a briefing connected the sidelines of the G7 connected Thursday.

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(L/R, clockwise) French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni conscionable during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit astatine the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge successful Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada connected June 17, 2025 (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

"It tin lone beryllium a diplomatic solution… beryllium down and negociate to person a mode out," she added.

The opposition betwixt Rubio’s framing and Kallas’s connection captures the halfway hostility shaping the meeting.

U.S. officials accidental Rubio is heading into the talks with a broader docket that goes beyond Iran.

According to a State Department spokesperson, who spoke to Fox News Digital connected background, Rubio volition usage the gathering to "advance cardinal U.S. interests" and propulsion discussions connected the wars successful Ukraine and the Middle East, arsenic good arsenic "international load sharing" and the wide effectiveness of the G7.

The U.S. is besides expected to stress maritime security, including state of navigation successful the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, portion urging allies to instrumentality connected a greater stock of responsibilities successful struggle zones and planetary organizations, the spokesperson said.

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters earlier boarding a level arsenic helium is headed to France wherever helium volition instrumentality portion successful the G7 overseas ministers' meeting, astatine Joint Base Andrews successful Maryland, U.S., March 26, 2026.  (Brendan Smialowski/Pool via Reuters)

European officials person alternatively emphasized the broader risks of the conflict.

France’s overseas minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said discussions astatine the G7 would physique connected a caller associated connection condemning Iran’s actions portion besides addressing maritime information concerns.

He said the "discussions volition supply an accidental to revisit positions already agreed astatine the G7 level… including the unjustifiable attacks carried retired by Iran against Gulf countries… which we condemned successful the strongest imaginable terms."

Barrot added that ministers would besides absorption connected securing planetary shipping routes.

A outer representation shows the Strait of Hormuz, a cardinal maritime transition connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, captious for planetary vigor supply. (Amanda Macias/Fox News Digital)

"We volition besides person the accidental to code maritime information and state of navigation… including an planetary mission… to guarantee the creaseless travel of maritime postulation successful a strictly antiaircraft posture, thereby helping to easiness unit connected vigor prices," helium said.

Kallas echoed that planetary framing. "All the countries successful the satellite are 1 mode oregon different affected by this war… it is successful the involvement of everybody that this warfare stops," she said.

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Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy speaks to the property during EU Summit successful Brussels, Belgium connected Dec. 19, 2024.  (Photo by Nicolas Landemard/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Her remarks besides pointed to the interconnected quality of the crisis. "Russia is helping Iran with intelligence… and besides supporting Iran present with drones," she said, linking the Iran struggle to the warfare successful Ukraine.

That uncertainty is already affecting the operation of the summit, with officials dropping plans for a unified last communiqué to debar exposing divisions, Reuters reported.

Analysts accidental those differences bespeak deeper structural tensions successful the alliance. "Europe has criticized Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ strategy towards Iran portion pursuing a failed diplomatic attack that has enabled the authorities to grow its violent networks and borderline person to atomic threshold status," Barak Seener, elder probe chap astatine the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital.

"This reflects a deficiency of European capableness to task powerfulness successful the region, peculiarly successful safeguarding the Strait of Hormuz."

FILE PHOTO: Cargo ships successful the Gulf, adjacent the Strait of Hormuz, arsenic seen from bluish Ras al-Khaimah, adjacent the borderline with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli struggle with Iran, successful United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo)

Seener added that years of reliance connected Washington person near Europe progressively exposed arsenic the U.S. shifts its strategical priorities. "Years of underinvestment successful defence and reliance connected the United States person created a dependency that Washington progressively views arsenic a betrayal of the bid it has guaranteed Europe since the Second World War," helium said.

"With the U.S. placing greater worth connected its narration with Israel than NATO, the effect whitethorn beryllium further erosion of the alliance, reduced enactment for Ukraine and rising economical unit connected Europe."

He warned that the contiguous trial volition travel astatine the G7 itself. "Divisions implicit however to respond to Iran and to immoderate U.S. petition for enactment are apt to exposure a deeper transatlantic split," Seener said.

"Operation Epic Fury has showcased President Trump’s quality to assemble a conjugation of allies to destruct a communal menace — successful this lawsuit the Iranian authorities — and stabilize planetary trade," Jacob Olidort, main probe serviceman and manager of American information astatine the America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital.

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A outer presumption shows the Strait of Hormuz, a cardinal planetary vigor chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, connected Oct. 2, 2024. (Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data via Getty Images)

"The nonaccomplishment of Western Europe to enactment successful securing the Strait of Hormuz is peculiarly egregious due to the fact that those countries beryllium connected it much than we do," helium added.

"At the aforesaid time, the historical successes of Operation Epic Fury person awakened a caller assurance successful our Middle East partners to eradicate the threats from the Iranian authorities and to enactment unneurotic to signifier a much peaceful and prosperous region."