US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted his British counterpart David Lammy at the White House on Thursday where they discussed a wide range of topics including the Iran-Israel crisis, Russia’s war in Ukraine, next week’s NATO summit, and bilateral relations, the State Department said.
The high-stakes meeting was originally planned for last Friday, June 13, but got pushed back due to scheduling conflicts, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reports.
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Lammy landed in Washington Thursday morning amidst escalation in the Middle East and speculations that potential US involvement, under consideration by Donald Trump, included possible use of UK-controlled airbase and its bombers.
However, by Thursday afternoon, the White House announced that Trump was prepared to delay his decision on Iran for two weeks to give ongoing diplomacy a chance.
Meanwhile, nuclear related talks between Tehran and top European diplomats will take place in Geneva on Friday, with Lammy’s participation, the UK diplomat said in a social media post after meeting with Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“I will be heading to Geneva to meet with the Iranian Foreign Minister alongside my French, German and EU counterparts,” Lammy noted. “Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one,” he added.
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According to him, “a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution.”
State Department’s spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a readout that Rubio and Lammy “agreed Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.”
During the White House meeting, the top diplomats also “reviewed other key areas of US-UK cooperation, including efforts to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war,” Bruce noted.
“The Secretary and Foreign Secretary Lammy also talked about the upcoming NATO Summit and reaffirmed the importance of increased defense spending to secure peace and stability,“ she concluded.Kyiv Post has learned from diplomatic sources that the two senior diplomats also discussed the possibility of a potential Ukraine meeting at the leadership level, with distinct focus on boosting Kyiv’s air defense capabilities.
“Next week’s NATO Summit offers the best opportunity for such a meeting, but it’s yet to be decided” the source emphasized.
Trump is scheduled to depart Washington for The Hague on Monday, June 23, to attend the NATO gathering, the White House confirmed Thursday.
As Kyiv Post reported last week, US officials hope that the UK, which manufactures air defense systems already in use with Ukraine’s armed forces, could help “take a fresh look” at hunting additional surface-to-air missiles throughout Europe – and beyond.
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