G-7 Aims to Balance Addressing Russia-Ukraine, Iran Wars

Dueling Priorities

G-7 foreign ministers convened in the French countryside on Thursday for a two-day summit aimed at addressing the Russia-Ukraine and Iran wars. Yet the fireworks are not expected to take place until Friday, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive to deliver what analysts expect will be a blunt message about the United States’ agenda.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, cohesion among the G-7 has largely frayed. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom have all faced the White House’s ire at some juncture during the past year, whether over tense trade negotiations or demands that they do more to counter global security threats.

On Thursday, Trump once again blasted NATO (which all G-7 members except Japan are part of) for doing “ABSOLUTELY NOTHING” to help the United States and Israel counter Iran, particularly Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the U.S. State Department, Rubio will use Friday’s G-7 meeting to “advance key U.S. interests” and “discuss shared security concerns and opportunities for cooperation.” Meanwhile, the other attendees—including foreign ministers from Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Ukraine—hope that Rubio will use this time to shed light on the White House’s ambitions in the Iran war as well as outline what diplomatic channels (if any) are actually open with Tehran.

“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media on Wednesday that Tehran was reviewing a 15-point U.S. peace proposal to end the war but reiterated that Iran has no intention of having talks with the United States.

The other major conflict on the G-7’s agenda this week is the Russia-Ukraine war. The bloc’s members and allies are hoping to push the United States to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow and immediately begin preparing Kyiv for another year of war. This would include helping Ukraine safeguard its energy sector, which Russian forces have repeatedly targeted, and continuing to provide Kyiv with military support.

But the Iran war appears to have shifted the United States’ focus. The U.S. Defense Department is considering diverting weapons intended for Ukraine to the Middle East, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. This could potentially include critical air defense interceptor missiles ordered through a NATO program.

European nations now provide the bulk of Kyiv’s military support, as Trump has pushed the continent to take on more responsibility for the region’s security. According to NATO’s annual report, released on Thursday, the alliance’s European members as well as Canada increased their defense spending by 20 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year in an effort to reach NATO’s 5 percent minimum defense spending threshold.

The G-7 will next convene in June for a leaders’ summit. Until then, Washington’s allies are hoping to ensure that Trump does not pressure Kyiv to accept an unfavorable peace deal with Russia, as the United States appears to be prioritizing the Middle East crisis over Europe’s conflict.

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What We’re Following

An end to global trade norms? The World Trade Organization (WTO) kicked off its ministerial conference in Cameroon on Thursday by calling for a massive overhaul of global trade rules.

“The world order and multilateral system we ​used to know has irrevocably changed,” WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. “We will not get it back. … We must ⁠look to the future.” The session follows a year of geopolitical instability—sparked by multiple regional wars, Trump’s sweeping tariffs, and Chinese competition for critical minerals—that has upended global trade norms.

Okonjo-Iweala listed the biggest challenges facing the organization, with particular emphasis on how a lack of consensus among member nations has largely stalled the body’s decision-making abilities. She also condemned some countries’ limited transparency regarding the use of subsidies, arguing that it “breeds suspicions of unfairness and anti-competitive behaviors.”

Yet, many countries remain at odds over how to best improve the WTO’s effectiveness. China, the European Union, and the United Kingdom reportedly support a detailed work plan aimed at instituting reforms. However, the United States has resisted such an extensive overhaul, having repeatedly criticized the WTO’s “most favored nation” principle, which requires countries to treat each other equally.

Right to an attorney. Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife demanded in a New York City courtroom on Thursday that U.S. criminal charges against them be thrown out, arguing that the couple’s inability to receive Venezuelan public funds for their defense is interfering with their right to have a lawyer. Under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, all defendants have the right to an attorney. However, U.S. sanctions have prevented Caracas from paying for Maduro and his wife’s legal fees despite them claiming that Venezuelan law and custom dictates that the government covers the president and first lady’s expenses.

U.S. forces captured the pair during an overnight raid on Jan. 3. Maduro, his wife, and four other individuals are accused of narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. If convicted, they could face life in prison.

Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, has threatened to withdraw from the case if the U.S. district judge fails to dismiss these charges and if Caracas cannot pay for the couple’s defense. Meanwhile, Trump told reporters on Thursday that additional charges will be brought against the former Venezuelan leader. He did not specify what those cases might be.

Countering Western hegemony. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed a friendship and cooperation treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday during a two-day state visit to Pyongyang. “In today’s reality of a global transformation, when the global powers openly ignore and violate international law, independent countries need to cooperate more closely, consolidate efforts aimed at protecting their sovereignty and improving the well-being of our citizens,” Lukashenko said.

Belarus is not a member of NATO or the European Union. The Eastern European country has instead prioritized its close relationship with Russia rather than try to curry favor with the West, even going so far as to allow Moscow to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in its territory. Similarly, North Korea has fostered friendly ties with Russia by sending troops and armaments to support its war against Ukraine.

This mutual friendship has encouraged Lukashenko and Kim to bolster their own bilateral relationship as part of a Chinese-led effort to establish a “multipolar world” aimed at countering Western hegemony. The last time that both leaders met was in Beijing in September.

Odds and Ends

It’s a race against time for a 32-foot humpback whale stuck in shallow waters off northern Germany’s Baltic coast. Locals spotted the trapped whale, believed to be a juvenile male weighing around 26,000 pounds, on Monday—igniting a dayslong effort to save the aquatic animal. After maritime rescuers attempted to generate large waves, removed part of a fishing net caught around the whale’s body, and tried to create a trench to help the creature return to the sea, they are now hoping that heavier excavating equipment can suck sand from the bottom of the bay to push the whale back into deeper waters.