G7 Foreign Ministers Meet in Paris With Ukraine and Iran at the Top of the Agenda

Foreign ministers of the G7 open two days of talks in Paris on Monday, November 9 and Tuesday, November 10, with Ukraine and Iran at the top of the agenda. European powers are expected to press the United States to seek a fair settlement for Ukraine in the war against Russia, and to deter Washington from further military action against Iran, Reuters reported.

The meeting is one of the final acts of the French G7 presidency. It had long been scheduled for Marseille and was moved to Paris at the last minute. The Reuters account gives scheduling reasons for the move. A separate account by diplomats, also carried by Reuters, said the move was for security reasons after weeks of protests across France. The United States takes over the G7 presidency in 2027.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to attend both days, unlike the March meeting, where he attended one day. It is his first appearance before allies since the November 3 midterm elections, in which President Donald Trump's Republicans were defeated. Ministers from Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea and Brazil are also attending, according to four G7 diplomats cited by Reuters.

Ukraine talks run in parallel

The Paris meeting coincides with US mediated talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, November 10 and 11, on ending the Ukraine war. A dedicated Ukraine session is planned in Paris on November 10, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha attending. Diplomats described shortages of Patriot interceptors and other air defence systems as Kyiv's most urgent military vulnerability.

"Europeans will be represented and France will be in Abu Dhabi to participate in these talks," French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot told RTL radio, as reported by Reuters.

On Iran, Trump has not ruled out new strikes, including at the suspected Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, which Tehran denies is a nuclear facility. That denial is Tehran's stated position, and the site claim itself remains a US suspicion in the reporting, not a settled finding.

On the sidelines of the Paris meeting, the French finance ministry hosts a donor conference on Monday to raise funds to repair the protective dome over the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine, which was damaged in a Russian strike last year.

The Paris talks give European ministers two days to test how far Washington's position on Ukraine has moved since the midterms, days before and during the Abu Dhabi round. What the allies say in public, and what Rubio carries into the Ukraine session on Tuesday, are the points to watch.