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Biden, Macron Talk Middle East and Ukraine in French State Visit
French President Emmanuel Macron is seen at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Photo: Reuters/Martial Trezzini
Fresh from commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden in Paris on Saturday for a state visit that included talks about the Middle East, Ukraine and trade.
The two countries will work harder to prevent a regional escalation from Israel’s war with Islamist terror group Hamas in Gaza and focus on calming tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, Macron told reporters at the Elysee presidential palace, with Biden at his side.
“We are redoubling efforts together to avoid a regional explosion, particularly in Lebanon,” Macron said. Hezbollah is an Iran-backed political movement and militia in Lebanon.
Both men welcomed the rescue by Israeli forces of four hostages held by Hamas since October. “We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached,” Biden said.
Biden and Macron, who spent the last few days celebrating D-Day veterans and extolling democratic values, did not take questions from reporters.
The Saturday visit began with a ceremony at the iconic Arc de Triomphe, where the leaders paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while a massive French flag hanging from the arch fluttered in the breeze above their heads.
Accompanied by their wives, Biden and Macron greeted army veterans. Then, escorted by French guards on horseback, they drove down the capital’s renowned Avenue des Champs-Elysees, en route to the Elysee.
The day concluded with a dinner at the French presidential palace, where celebrities including Pharrell Williams and John McEnroe joined political and business leaders.
Biden and Macron share a warm relationship despite past tensions over a submarine deal with Australia. Biden hosted Macron for a state visit at the White House in 2022.
They are aligned in their countries’ support for Ukraine and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a joint roadmap released by the presidents included a commitment to back efforts to use frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv.
Tapping profits from Russian assets has drawn concerns from some countries, but a U.S. Treasury official said on Tuesday the United States and its G7 partners were making progress.
“The United States is standing strong with Ukraine. We’re standing with our allies. We are standing with France,” Biden said. “Putin is not going to stop with Ukraine…. All of Europe will be threatened. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Biden met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Friday, apologizing for a months-long delay by the U.S. Congress in approving the latest military aid, and Zelensky addressed France’s National Assembly.
Beyond Ukraine, trade issues between the two sides of the Atlantic loomed large, especially over the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August 2022. European officials see it as a protectionist move that siphons off investments from EU companies.
Macron said he and Biden discussed the consequences of the IRA for the European economy again on Saturday. Despite his criticism of the IRA during his state visit to Washington in 2022, Macron and European allies have since won few concessions from Washington.
“We really wish to move towards a re-synchronization of our economies, between the United States of America and European economies, in terms of regulation and in terms of investment levels,” Macron said.
The post Biden, Macron Talk Middle East and Ukraine in French State Visit first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Foreign Minister in Washington, a First in 25 Years
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference in Moscow, Russia, July 31, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/Pool
Syria’s foreign minister arrived in Washington on Thursday, the first official visit at that level in more than 25 years as the US makes a pro-Damascus policy push, lifting sanctions and mediating between the new Islamist rulers and Israel.
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani will meet US lawmakers to discuss the lifting of remaining US sanctions on his country, Senator Lindsey Graham was quoted as saying by Axios. Two sources familiar with the trip confirmed the visit to Reuters.
It comes after some senior US diplomats focused on Syria were abruptly let go from their posts amid Washington‘s pivot, as the US seeks to integrate its longtime Syrian Kurdish allies with the central administration of President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The United States has also been mediating between Israel and Syria. Sharaa, who is due to visit New York next week for the UN General Assembly, said negotiations to reach a security pact with Israel could yield results “in the coming days.”
The United States had placed crippling sanctions on Syria since 2011 after former President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran and Russia, cracked down protests against him that triggered an almost 14-year civil war.
After he was toppled by Sharaa’s forces in a quick sweep in December, Washington and Damascus have been working to warm up ties, with US President Donald Trump announcing that he would move to lift the sanctions after meeting Sharaa in May.
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Saudi Arabia, Nuclear-Armed Pakistan Sign Mutual Defense Pact
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif embrace each other on the day they sign a defense agreement, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 17, 2025. Photo: Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
Saudi Arabia and nuclear–armed Pakistan signed a mutual defence pact late on Wednesday, significantly strengthening a decades-old security partnership a week after Israel’s strikes on Qatar upended the diplomatic calculus in the region.
The enhanced defense ties come as Gulf Arab states grow increasingly wary about the reliability of the United States as a security guarantor.
Asked whether Pakistan would now be obliged to provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear umbrella, a senior Saudi official told Reuters: “This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means.”
Pakistan is the only nuclear–armed, Muslim-majority nation, and also fields the Islamic world’s largest army, which it has regularly said is focused on facing down neighboring foe India.
The agreement was the culmination of years of discussions, the Saudi official said when asked about the timing of the deal. “This is not a response to specific countries or specific events but an institutionalization of long-standing and deep cooperation between our two countries,” the official added.
Israel’s attempt on Sept. 9 to kill the political leaders of Hamas with airstrikes on Doha, while they were discussing a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that Qatar is helping to mediate, infuriated Arab countries.
Before the Gaza war, Gulf monarchies – US allies – had sought to stabilize ties with both Iran and Israel to resolve longstanding security concerns. Over the past year, Qatar has been subjected to direct hits twice, once by Iran and once by Israel.
Israel is widely understood to possess a sizeable nuclear arsenal but maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying possessing such weapons.
Pakistan had said its nuclear weapons are only aimed, as a deterrent, against India, and its missiles are designed with a range to hit anywhere to its east in India.
NUCLEAR UMBRELLA
Pakistani state television showed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, embracing after signing the agreement. Also there was Pakistan‘s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, regarded as the country’s most powerful person.
“The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both,” a statement from the Pakistani prime minister’s office said.
Pakistan‘s decades-old alliance with Saudi Arabia – the site of Islam’s holiest sites – is rooted in shared faith, strategic interests and economic interdependence.
Pakistan has long had soldiers deployed in Saudi Arabia, currently estimated at between 1,500 and 2,000 troops, providing operational, technical and training help to the Saudi military. That includes assistance to the Saudi air and land forces.
Saudi Arabia has loaned Pakistan $3 billion, a deal extended in December, to shore up its foreign exchange reserves.
The Saudi deal comes months after Pakistan fought a brief military conflict with India in May.
India’s ministry of external affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X on Thursday that India was aware of the development, and that it would study its implications for New Delhi’s security and for regional stability.
The senior Saudi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the need to balance relations with Pakistan and India, also a nuclear power.
“Our relationship with India is more robust than it has ever been. We will continue to grow this relationship and seek to contribute to regional peace whichever way we can.”
Pakistan and India fought three major wars since the two countries were carved out of British colonial India in 1947.
After they both acquired nuclear weapons in the late 1990s, their conflicts have been more limited in scale because of the danger of nuclear assets coming into play.
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UN Sanctions on Iran to Be Reimposed, France’s Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
European powers will likely reimpose international sanctions on Iran by the end of the month after their latest round of talks with Tehran aimed at preventing them were deemed not serious, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
Britain, France, and Germany, the so-called E3, launched a 30-day process at the end of August to reimpose UN sanctions. They set conditions for Tehran to meet during September to convince them to delay the “snapback mechanism.”
The offer by the E3 to put off the snapback for up to six months to enable serious negotiations is conditional on Iran restoring access for UN nuclear inspectors – who would also seek to account for Iran‘s large stock of enriched uranium – and engaging in talks with the US.
When asked in an interview on Israel’s Channel 12 whether the snapback was a done deal, Macron said:
“Yes. I think so because the latest news from the Iranians is not serious.”
E3 foreign ministers, the European Union foreign policy chief, and their Iranian counterpart held a phone call on Wednesday, in which diplomats on both sides said there had been no substantial progress, though the door was still open to try and reach a deal before the deadline expired.
The 15-member UN Security Council will vote on Friday on a resolution that would permanently lift UN sanctions on Iran – a move it is required to take after the E3 launched the process.
The resolution is likely to fail to get the minimum nine votes needed to pass, say diplomats, and if it did it would be vetoed by the United States, Britain, or France.