SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ, France — The White House was blindsided by the arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Sunday in the coastal French town where President Trump and other world leaders are meeting this weekend, according to three U.S. officials.
It’s unclear how much notice Trump had of Zarif’s arrival in Biarritz, France, the site of this year’s Group of Seven summit. When asked about it, the president told reporters he had no comment.
A spokesman for Zarif announced Zarif had arrived in Biarritz at the invitation of the French foreign minister “to continue talks” between the Iranian and French governments. The statement followed reports of an Iranian government plane landing in Biarritz.
“No one was expecting it,” one U.S. official said of Zarif’s arrival. “It was a surprise.”
French President Emanuel Macron has been urging Trump and the Iranians toward a dialogue. France, Germany and the U.K. have tried to salvage the Iranian nuclear deal since Trump withdrew the U.S. from the pact last year.
Trump met privately with Macron for 90 minutes over lunch on Saturday after arriving in Biarritz.
Last month, the Trump administration adopted sanctions against Zarif. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said at the time that the Iranian foreign minister “spreads the regime’s propaganda and disinformation around the world.”
Asked Sunday in Biarritz about Zarif’s arrival there, Mnuchin said to the extent Iran wants to negotiate, Trump has said he won’t set any preconditions to talks.
In his tweet confirming the trip, a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry stressed that “there will be no meetings or negotiations” with U.S. officials during the visit.
Trump has signaled a willingness to meet with Iranian officials, but Tehran has resisted talks amid what the White House dubs the president’s “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at squeezing the Iranian economy.
“Iran wants to make a deal because the sanctions are not good for them,” Trump said recently at a rally in New Hampshire. “They are not happy.”
Zarif arrived as fissures emerged among G-7 leaders over how to deal with Iran, as well as the threat of a global recession and China.
Zarif was due to travel to Asia in the coming days as part of his tour to get support for Iran amid rising tensions with the U.S. since Trump withdrew America from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
He told NBC News last month that the door is “wide open” to diplomacy if Trump removes the array of sanctions he has imposed since 2017 that have slashed the country’s oil exports and damaged its economy.
Max Burman contributed.
