标签： Europe

Just 48 hours after world powers and Tehran signed a groundbreaking 60-day negotiating framework for a permanent Iran nuclear deal and a commitment to restore pre-war oil transit through the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, a high-stakes U.S. plan to launch immediate technical talks has been derailed.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the American negotiating delegation, had been scheduled to depart on an overnight flight Friday for a secretive mountainside resort in the tiny Swiss village of Obbürgen, where the opening round of talks was set to be held. By Thursday afternoon, Vance’s staff, a pool of traveling reporters, had already assembled at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington D.C. ahead of departure, while dozens of White House advance personnel and additional press had already arrived in Switzerland to prepare for the vice president’s visit. But in a sudden announcement Thursday evening, the trip was postponed indefinitely.

In an official statement, the White House confirmed that while Vance and his full delegation were fully prepared to begin negotiations, last-minute logistics hurdles prevented the plans from being finalized, forcing the vice president to remain in Washington. “The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” the statement read.

The cancellation came shortly after Pan-Arab satellite network Al-Mayadeen, which has close political ties to Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that Iran was delaying its own delegation’s travel to Switzerland in response to Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Lebanon. Earlier the same day, Vance had already signaled the uncertain state of plans during a White House press briefing, telling reporters he could not guarantee talks would kick off as scheduled this weekend. “Our plan is to go to Switzerland, I don’t know exactly when,” Vance said. “We think these technical negotiations start sometime this weekend. That’s still the plan. But that could change.”

Despite the last-minute delay, Iran’s top leadership had signaled tentative approval for direct talks just hours before the cancellation. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued a brief, formal statement carried by state media endorsing the first round of direct negotiations with the U.S., clearing a key domestic political hurdle for the process to move forward. “It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” Khamenei emphasized in the statement. The endorsement grants Khamenei, who assumed the supreme leadership role after his father Ali Khamenei was killed in a U.S. airstrike on February 28, critical domestic political maneuvering room. Hardline factions within the Iranian government have long opposed direct bilateral talks with the U.S., a position hardened after Trump withdrew from the 2015 multilateral Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) during his first term.

The preliminary framework signed this week was the product of a last-minute change of plans: Vance was initially scheduled to travel to Switzerland for a formal public signing ceremony, but instead President Trump signed the document during a high-profile dinner at the Palace of Versailles alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signing the agreement separately. Under the terms of the 60-day framework, Iran must dilute its existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium — much of which remains buried under rubble from U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last year — under international supervision, and reaffirm its longstanding commitment not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons. All other core details of a permanent agreement remain to be negotiated in the coming weeks.

Regional policy analysts note that Tehran enters the upcoming talks with a heightened sense of leverage, after its temporary shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz sent shockwaves through global energy markets. “Iran believes it’s in a strong negotiating position,” explained Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East Program at Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities. After Tehran effectively closed the strategic waterway, triggering global economic disruption, Kelanic said the U.S. is now “essentially trying to negotiate our way back to the prewar status quo.”

Neil Quilliam, associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at London-based Chatham House, added that Khamenei’s public endorsement of talks is designed to reinforce domestic messaging that the regime holds equal standing with the global superpower. From the Iranian leadership’s perspective, Quilliam argued, “Trump has gone from calling for regime change on Feb. 28 to this: Now they’re going to sit down with us directly and talk about these big issues.” The endorsement, he said, is largely for domestic consumption, sending a message that “We are firmly in control of this. There can be no protests, no revolution: We are a new regime and we’re staying put.”

President Trump has also made a notable shift in public tone in recent weeks. For months, Trump insisted that the financial cost of the conflict with Iran was secondary to eliminating Tehran’s nuclear program, and he angered some members of his own party by saying he was unconcerned about any economic impact on upcoming November midterm elections. But speaking at this week’s G7 summit in Evian-Les-Bains, France, Trump acknowledged for the first time that a prolonged conflict would have triggered “economic catastrophe” for the U.S., noting that domestic oil reserves would have been depleted in roughly four weeks. “And the one president I did not want to be was the late, great Herbert Hoover,” Trump said, referencing the 31st U.S. president whose tenure was defined by the Great Depression.

For Vance, who is widely viewed as a potential 2028 Republican presidential contender, the outcome of these negotiations will have major implications for his political future. Vance built his early political brand around public skepticism of foreign intervention, but now he is tasked with defending a negotiated end to a conflict that congressional Democrats have universally dismissed as reckless. Even within the Republican Party, hawkish lawmakers have openly criticized the framework, arguing it concedes too much to Tehran and would unlock massive economic benefits for Iran.

Senator Roger Wicker, Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday he is deeply concerned that the draft agreement “negotiates away the victories” won by the U.S. air campaign against Iran, adding that key provisions are “completely out of step” with Trump’s stated original goals. Wicker specifically targeted a proposed $300 billion fund for Iranian reconstruction and economic development included in the 14-point framework, arguing it “would make Iran’s payoff under Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison.” Trump and Vance have pushed back on these criticisms, stressing that no U.S. taxpayer funds would contribute to the fund, and any economic relief would only be released in exchange for concrete concessions and nuclear reforms from Tehran.

Trump has long attacked the 2015 JCPOA, the original multilateral nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration, arguing it failed to curb Iran’s nuclear progress and handed unfettered access to billions of dollars in sanctions relief to Tehran. He withdrew the U.S. from the pact in 2018. Today, Trump rejects comparisons between his new framework and the 2015 deal, arguing he negotiated from a position of strength after a year of military pressure on Iran, while Obama merely paid off Tehran to secure weak, unenforceable commitments.

LONDON – In a political upset that has reshaped the UK’s domestic political landscape, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has secured a decisive win in the Makerfield constituency special election, cementing his position as the leading challenger to embattled incumbent Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.

Burnham, a 56-year-old centrist politician widely nicknamed the “King of the North” for his enduring popularity across northern England, crushed his closest competitor, Rob Kenyon from the right-wing anti-immigration Reform UK, by a margin of more than 9,000 votes. Final vote counts released early Friday show Burnham captured nearly 55% of the 45,510 ballots cast, a clear mandate that sets the stage for an imminent leadership showdown within the ruling Labour Party.

The special election was deliberately triggered when sitting Labour MP Josh Simons resigned from his seat, clearing a path for Burnham – who had served outside Parliament as metro mayor since 2017 – to return to Westminster. Since taking office as Greater Manchester’s mayor in 2017, Burnham has overseen a sweeping urban regeneration transformation of the region, the historic birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, building a broad popular base around his pragmatic, region-focused policy brand he calls “Manchesterism.” He has now pledged to scale this model nationwide if he takes the top job.

In his victory address, Burnham left no ambiguity about his political ambitions, rejecting the idea that he would settle for a backbench role in the 650-seat House of Commons. “Everyone knows that politics isn’t working,” he told supporters. “Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.” He emphasized that the Labour Party now holds a final opportunity to rebuild public trust, calling for a new, unifying political project rooted in hope that rejects the divisive, polarizing politics that has come to define U.S. political discourse. “The name Makerfield will forever be synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs,” he added.

The leadership challenge comes amid a historic collapse in Starmer’s approval ratings, just months after he led the centre-left Labour Party to a landslide general election victory in July 2024. Since taking office, Starmer has failed to deliver on key campaign pledges: he has been unable to jumpstart promised economic growth, repair overstretched and underfunded public services, or ease the ongoing UK cost of living crisis. His position has been further weakened by a string of high-profile missteps, most recently the controversial appointment of scandal-tarnished former minister Peter Mandelson – a known associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – as UK Ambassador to the United States. A dismal performance in May 2025 local elections already prompted dozens of Labour MPs to publicly call for Starmer’s resignation, and while he has refused to step down, senior party figures have openly pushed for a leadership change. Already, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from Cabinet in May, criticizing the government for a “vacuum of vision,” and has announced he will run for leader if a contest is called.

Under UK parliamentary rules, the governing party can replace its leader and prime minister mid-term without holding a snap national election. Current Labour Party rules stipulate that a leadership challenge can be triggered if a challenger secures backing from at least one-fifth of the party’s sitting Commons MPs – a threshold of 81 signatures in the current parliament.

Senior party figures have already begun openly calling for an orderly transition. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy acknowledged that Burnham and Starmer would hold urgent talks “about what comes next” in the coming days. Louise Haigh, a senior Labour MP and close Burnham ally, urged Starmer to “do what’s best for both the country and the Labour Party” and “consider an orderly and managed transition.” Haigh told Sky News that “Andy won’t be doing anything rash or hasty. I’m really hopeful the prime minister and Andy can come to an agreement.”

Starmer has thus far dug in, insisting he has no intention of resigning. Speaking from the G7 summit in France this week, he said, “I will fight if there’s a challenge. We won a significant general election result in 2024, with a mandate to bring about change. I’m not going to walk away from that.” Ahead of the election, Starmer suggested he would be open to giving Burnham a senior Cabinet post to keep him within the government, but allies of Burnham have made clear he has no interest in a secondary role.

Political analysts agree that the pressure on Starmer is now nearly impossible to ignore. Rob Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester, noted that “the pressure on Starmer will be very hard to resist” now that Burnham holds a seat in Parliament. Burnham is set to be sworn in as an MP as early as next Monday, and is expected to request a formal meeting with Starmer to push for a graceful exit and a clear timetable for a leadership transition.

While Starmer remains defiant, his position could collapse rapidly if multiple Cabinet members resign or threaten to resign in unison to force his hand. Depending on the level of support for Burnham among the parliamentary party, the race could either become a contested leadership election or Burnham could take the position unopposed in a quick “coronation.” Ford added that Burnham’s defeat of Reform UK in a seat the right-wing party targeted heavily strengthens his argument that he is Labour’s strongest electoral asset. “The narrative he can bring is, ‘No one else could have won that seat. I won that. I bring something unique. I bring an ability to renew our appeal,’” Ford explained.

In what is shaping up to be one of the final defining foreign policy achievements of Emmanuel Macron’s tenure as French president, a landmark gathering at the Palace of Versailles this week has delivered two transformative breakthroughs for European diplomacy: a surprise initial peace deal to end the Iran war brokered on French soil, and a firm new commitment from U.S. President Donald Trump to ramp up support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. The dual wins capped a week of high-stakes diplomacy at the G7 summit, where Macron leveraged years of political experience and carefully cultivated networks to pull off agreements that align U.S. priorities more closely with European interests, months before his term is set to end next spring.

The centerpiece of Macron’s diplomatic push was a state dinner at Versailles, originally billed as a celebration of centuries of Franco-American friendship. What attendees did not expect was an impromptu signing ceremony that turned the 17th-century royal palace into the stage for a historic end to the Iran conflict. Even senior French government officials were caught off guard by the moment. French Economy Minister Roland Lescure, who was in attendance at the dinner, confirmed to RTL radio that Trump only notified Macron of his plan to sign the initial agreement shortly before the event, leaving cabinet ministers completely unaware of what was to come. “But for us, ministers in the French government, it was a surprise,” Lescure said. When Trump put pen to paper, the room of assembled officials and guests broke into spontaneous applause, with Macron immediately declaring “Bravo” to mark the occasion.

Macron had long framed the iconic Versailles venue as a deliberate “instrument of influence” for the summit, designed to keep Trump engaged through the full duration of the G7 gathering in Evian, a sharp contrast to 2024 when Trump left the Canada-hosted summit early before its official conclusion. For more than 300 years, French leaders have used the gilded palace to welcome and honor visiting heads of state, a tradition Trump himself acknowledged when he praised the site’s understated grandeur. Following the signing, Macron outlined the tangible benefits of the deal, saying it would not only end active hostilities in the region but also reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil chokepoint that has been closed during the conflict, a change that is expected to bring down global energy prices.

While Macron did not take part in the direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran that led to the agreement, his role in securing the historic venue for the signing carries major symbolic weight: it puts Europe back at the center of a conflict that the U.S. and Israel launched in 2025 without any prior consultation with their Western NATO allies. Even before the Versailles dinner, Macron had spent months laying groundwork for the summit, holding repeated phone calls with Trump to align positions on both Iran and Ukraine, repairing a relationship that got off to a famously awkward start nearly a decade ago with an uncomfortably prolonged handshake that made global headlines. While the two leaders have had their share of friction over the years, with Trump criticizing European NATO members for inadequate defense spending and European leaders angered by Trump’s failure to consult them on the Iran war decision, Macron’s outreach this cycle paid off.

The second, equally consequential win for European and Ukrainian leaders was securing Trump’s commitment to a more forceful stance supporting Ukraine, a breakthrough that comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy faced a widely noted diplomatic setback during his March 2025 visit to the White House. On the sidelines of the G7 summit, Trump held a meeting with Zelenskyy, who shared photos of recent damage inflicted by Russian bombing on the Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv to underscore the human cost of the ongoing invasion. Later, Trump joined a three-way call with Zelenskyy and Macron from Versailles, where he reaffirmed U.S. backing for Ukraine. “America is with us on Ukraine. That is very important,” Macron said after the call.

In their joint G7 statement, leaders from the group of seven major advanced economies formalized this new commitment, agreeing to accelerate deliveries of air defense systems and long-range weapons to Ukraine, while also ramping up economic pressure on Moscow through expanded sanctions targeting Russia’s core oil and gas sectors. European officials noted that while Macron had previously expressed caution over Trump’s shifting public positions on Russia and President Vladimir Putin, the written commitments released this week represent a far more durable agreement, as the text was personally approved by Trump. A European diplomat briefed on the closed-door talks, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions, confirmed the quiet bargain struck between Trump and G7 leaders: “We certainly gave him some reassurance on the Middle East,” the diplomat said. “And President Trump, for his part, delivered for us on Ukraine.”

The official G7 communique highlighted what it called a “breakthrough” in Middle East peace efforts, and praised Trump’s “strong leadership” on the Iran deal three separate times. In addition to the Iran and Ukraine breakthroughs, Macron used the summit to push for continued international support for Lebanese sovereignty, drawing on France’s long historical ties to the country. During discussions in Evian, Trump repeatedly expressed sympathy for the people of Lebanon and voiced criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, echoing European concerns over escalating regional tensions.

For Macron, the dual diplomatic wins cap a years-long effort to position France as a key bridge between Washington and European capitals, and stand as a major late-term legacy achievement as he prepares to leave office next spring.

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.

BRUSSELS — For the first time in 16 years, one of European politics’ most polarizing figures was absent from the room when European Union heads of state gathered for their flagship summit in Brussels on Thursday. Over nearly two decades, through countless rotations of national leadership across the bloc, Hungarian nationalist Viktor Orbán stood as an unshakable fixture in Brussels’ corridors of power. His political brand of illiberal nationalist populism not only shifted Europe’s ideological center sharply to the right but also became a template for far-right movements across the continent, even earning admiration from America’s Make America Great Again wing.

Orbán’s exit from the top table of EU summits comes after he lost Hungary’s national parliamentary election in April, which pushed his Fidesz party into the country’s main opposition bloc. For years, Orbán built his political brand around open confrontation with EU institutions: he repeatedly vilified bloc leaders, violated EU regulations, and systematically eroded checks and balances on executive power within Hungary. He also emerged as the most consistent and high-profile barrier to the EU’s core geopolitical priority of integrating Ukraine into the bloc, leveraging his position as Hungarian prime minister to repeatedly veto EU progress on Kyiv’s accession bid.

Now, with Orbán on the political sidelines for the first time in a generation, his successor as Hungary’s leader, Prime Minister Péter Magyar, is taking his seat at the summit alongside EU heavyweights including French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — advancing policy priorities that directly contradict Orbán’s long-held agenda. While Orbán was locked out of the main EU summit focused on expanding military and political support for Ukraine, he remained in Brussels to lead a gathering of his new far-right political alliance, Patriots for Europe. The coalition, which unites Euroskeptic and nationalist parties from across the bloc, holds the third-largest number of seats in the European Parliament, giving it significant leverage to shape EU legislation.

Despite his bruising election defeat — a result widely greeted with relief by EU leaders, who saw it as a popular rejection of Orbán’s hostile stance toward the bloc and his close ties to the Kremlin — the former prime minister shows no sign of abandoning his ideological project. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday ahead of the Patriots for Europe summit, Orbán framed his April loss as a temporary setback, arguing it would do nothing to slow the rise of nationalist forces across the continent. “No one election loss can stop this historical process,” he said. “Anti-migration and sovereigntist political forces in Europe will continue to grow stronger in the coming months and years.”

Orbán has positioned Patriots for Europe as the vehicle to reshape the EU in his illiberal image. Key policy goals for the alliance include rolling back EU oversight of national rule of law and democratic standards, implementing a harsh zero-tolerance policy on irregular migration, and forging deeper strategic ties with Russia and China. But a major shift is already underway under Hungary’s new leadership: just last week, Magyar’s government lifted Orbán’s long-held veto on the formal opening of Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations, following weeks of bilateral talks with Kyiv that resolved longstanding disputes over minority rights for ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine.

The removal of Orbán’s veto clears the biggest single barrier to accelerating Ukraine’s accession path, a process set to pick up speed when Ireland takes over the EU’s rotating six-month presidency in July. “Hungary obviously had issues that they were able to resolve to allow this to happen this week,” said Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s Minister for European Affairs.

Orbán’s confidence in a far-right breakthrough is not entirely unfounded. The movement has notched notable electoral gains across the bloc in recent months: Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party picked up significant ground in French municipal elections earlier this year, while Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has climbed steadily in national opinion polls. Andrej Babiš, a Czech populist and close Orbán ally, returned to the office of prime minister last year, making him the only leader from the Patriots for Europe alliance to currently hold the reins of government in an EU member state.

Most recently, the far-right secured a major policy win last week, when a joint voting bloc of Patriots for Europe and the center-right European People’s Party passed sweeping EU migration reform. The legislation, which has been fiercely condemned by human rights groups, expands bloc-wide surveillance powers, increases deportation targets for irregular migrants, and establishes offshore migrant detention centers labeled “return hubs” outside EU borders. When the reform passed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, far-right and center-right lawmakers celebrated with chants of “Send them back.”

Still, the European far-right is not without internal rifts. Fractures have emerged in recent months over key geopolitical issues, including conflicting stances on the Israel-Hamas conflict and reactions to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory belonging to EU member Denmark. For the EU and Ukraine, however, one major barrier has already been removed: with Orbán no longer holding the Hungarian prime ministership, he can no longer use veto power over EU policy to block Kyiv’s accession path, opening a new chapter in the bloc’s expansion and geopolitical direction.