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French President Emmanuel Macron (left) welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump on June 15 (local time) during the G7 summit held in Evian-les-Bains, eastern France. The G7 summit runs from June 15 to 17 in the French resort town bordering Switzerland, drawing world leaders along with the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and ministerial delegations from Brazil, Canada, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Türkiye. / Photo courtesy of AFP, Yonhap News Agency

U.S. President Donald Trump announced at the G7 summit in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains that after bringing conflicts with Iran to a close, the United States will now pivot its diplomatic capabilities toward ending the wars in Ukraine and Lebanon.

President Trump disclosed on June 15 (local time) that the United States and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to defuse military friction in the Gulf region, adding that commercial maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz—which had been effectively blockaded by Iran—has begun returning to normal operations.

During a joint media appearance alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump stated, "I held highly productive conversations yesterday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin," according to a Reuters report. The President offered an optimistic outlook, noting that since both factions maintain an open aperture for dialogue, tangible breakthrough progress could be achieved in the near future.

President Trump is slated to conduct a standalone working-level bilateral meeting with President Zelenskyy during the multi-day G7 itinerary. The high-stakes meeting arrives as Ukraine grapples with a gridlocked frontline and relentless airstrikes targeting its capital city of Kyiv, prompting Ukrainian leadership to aggressively lobby Western allies for supplementary military hardware and emergency financial liquidity.

While President Zelenskyy utilized the momentum of the summit to formally propose direct face-to-face negotiations with President Putin, the Kremlin has reportedly responded that the Russian Federation is not yet prepared to enter into such discussions.

Having previously anchored the bulk of its geopolitical capital toward defusing the crisis with Iran, the Trump administration is now widely anticipated to spearhead a full-scale mediation campaign to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Consequently, global attention is focusing on the specific financial aid structures and diplomatic baseline parameters the United States will offer to jumpstart frozen peace negotiations.

                                                                                                             Lee Jung-eun