U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host Qatar’s prime minister at the White House on Monday as efforts to end the conflict with Iran stall, with Washington and Tehran still far apart on the terms of a possible agreement.
Trump will hold closed-door talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is also Qatar’s foreign minister, according to the White House schedule. A U.S. official said Vice President JD Vance was also expected to meet the Qatari leader.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that talks with Iran had made little progress, dismissing the likelihood of an imminent deal. He made the remarks before leaving Florida for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris.
Rubio said Trump favoured diplomacy but sharply criticised Tehran’s demands.
“I wouldn’t say we’re on the verge of a breakthrough,” he said. “Right now, it’s not been very productive because Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable but in some cases outrageous, ridiculous and really not realistic.”
He added that leaders sometimes had to pursue unpopular policies if they believed it was the right course of action. The Iran conflict was among the issues that had turned voters against Trump.
Trump said on Sunday that he was unlikely to order further strikes against Iran if negotiations yielded meaningful progress and a strong agreement.
However, he warned that the U.S. had identified additional infrastructure targets, including bridges, should military operations resume.
As Qatar’s prime minister meets Trump in Washington, G7 foreign ministers are gathering in Paris amid uncertainty over the direction of U.S. foreign policy.
Four G7 diplomats said they wanted to assess whether Trump’s defeat in the midterm elections would prompt a shift in Washington’s approach to Ukraine, the Middle East and relations with its closest allies.
The diplomats suggested that Democratic gains could constrain the White House, but cautioned against expecting a return to traditional U.S. multilateralism, with foreign policy still firmly under Trump’s control.
The meeting was relocated from Marseille to Paris at short notice over security concerns following weeks of protests across France. It will be Rubio’s first appearance among allied counterparts since the elections. He is regarded as a potential presidential contender in 2028.
Iran is expected to feature prominently in discussions, with Washington’s G7 partners having repeatedly voiced scepticism about the war and concerns that further U.S. military action could deepen the crisis rather than bring it to an end.
The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S., with the European Union also participating. Ministers from Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea and Brazil are attending the meeting.
Ukraine is set to be another major focus, with the gathering taking place just a day before scheduled trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Sunday that representatives from France, Britain, Germany, NATO and the European Commission would also be present in the Emirati capital.
Differences over Europe's diplomatic approach could also emerge. On 5 November, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned that Europe risked being sidelined in efforts to end the war if member states continued pursuing separate diplomatic initiatives rather than agreeing on a unified strategy and representative.
Diplomats painted a bleak picture of the war in Ukraine, saying the front line had largely stabilised, reducing the likelihood of major territorial breakthroughs.
However, they warned that Russia had shifted towards systematically targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in an attempt to cause a nationwide blackout during winter.
Shortages of Patriot interceptor missiles and other air defence systems remain Kyiv’s most pressing military vulnerability, according to the diplomats.
A key objective of the G7 meeting is to maintain pressure on Moscow while securing additional military, financial and energy assistance for Ukraine, they said.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the talks would also cover growing hybrid threats, after his personal data was recently published on the dark web by hackers he described as pro-Russian.
Europe has faced a string of similar incidents, ranging from hoax threats targeting flights to cyberattacks on supermarkets.
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Poland has declared two days of national mourning after a gunman opened fire in Kraków's historic main square. Investigators are examining possible far-right influences and the discovery of three bodies at the suspect's home.
Monday marks the second of two days of national mourning in Poland as police bolstered security after six people were killed in a mass shooting in Kraków.
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The gunman who allegedly killed six people in Poland’s unprecedented mass shooting in central Kraków on Saturday has died in hospital, police said early Monday. The attacker had demonstrated advanced military-style marksmanship skills, according to a spokesperson for the shooting club he attended.
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Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) will meet in Paris on Monday to assess whether the Democrats' gains in the U.S. midterm elections could influence President Donald Trump's foreign policy, particularly on Ukraine and the Middle East.
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