EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up talks with world leaders at the Group of Seven summit on Wednesday where he's been trying to sell his tentative agreement with Iran as a pact that will ensure the Islamic Republic never develops a nuclear weapon — even though he's offered scant specificity about how that would be implemented.
Trump and his fellow leaders are closing the formal talks of the leading industrial nations at a lakeside resort in the French Alps on Wednesday with sessions on the future of artificial intelligence and fostering economic growth.
The U.S. leader also plans to make a stop for a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris before he jets back to Washington.
But first, Trump finds himself trying to quell skepticism about the Iran agreement, a difficult task given that neither the White House nor Iran have released the text of the deal. He also faces jitteriness from key ally Israel about ending the conflict under these terms.
“It’s a great document,” Trump said of the memorandum that has yet to be revealed, even though U.S. and Iranian officials are set to formally sign it at a ceremony on Friday at a stunning resort on Switzerland's Lake Lucerne.
“Here’s what it says: Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. It won’t have one to buy, to develop — it will not have a nuclear weapon. And I would say that’s about 99.9% of what I wanted,” he said.
But Trump will continue to have to do a sales job. Some members of his own party are doubtful that the deal he's agreed to is strong enough to defang Iran's nuclear program. At the same time, he faces an anxious international community looking for him to follow through on his promise that the deal will reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic, and keep it open.
White House and Iranian officials have sometimes offered contradictory interpretations of what is in the agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, would violate the deal.
“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Araghchi said.
Source: WPLG