In an unplanned, dramatic twist on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an initial agreement with Iran during a lavish state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, catching even senior French government officials off guard. The impromptu signing unfolded as Trump prepared to wrap up his three-day visit to France, which was centered on high-stakes diplomatic negotiations at the annual Group of Seven gathering. As the U.S. leader prepared to depart for his motorcade, he casually confirmed the news to assembled reporters, saying simply, “We signed in Versailles.”
Footage posted to the social platform X by both Macron’s team and a White House aide captured the moment: Trump sat at a dinner table signing a physical copy of the agreement, before passing the document and his signature pen to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Seated beside Trump, Macron congratulated him with the words “Good job. Bravo,” as surrounding officials and dinner guests broke into applause.
Details of the last-minute arrangement emerged the following day from French Finance Minister Roland Lescure, one of the dinner attendees, who confirmed that the surprise signing upended original White House plans. Initial scheduling had slated the official signing ceremony for the coming Friday in Switzerland, leaving even top French ministers unaware of the change until moments before it happened. “We literally saw Marco Rubio leave — I don’t know if he had already printed the memorandum of agreement or went to print it — and come back,” Lescure recounted. “We cleared the plates.”
Lescure noted that the surprise move appeared to be a last-minute decision by Trump, who only informed Macron of the plan shortly before the signing, as the two leaders arrived at the dinner together. “In any case, for us, ministers of the French government, it was a surprise,” he added. A separate anonymous French official, who was not cleared to speak publicly about the closed-door event, clarified that Rubio and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot conducted a final review of the memorandum of understanding before bringing it to Trump for his signature. The off-the-cuff signing at one of France’s most iconic royal landmarks underscores the fluid, unscripted nature of backchannel diplomacy that often takes place beyond the formal agenda of major international summits.