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Trump, world leaders to discuss Iran at G20 in Japan
OSAKA, Japan — US President Donald Trump lands in Osaka, Japan, for the annual Group of 20 summit amid a tropical cyclone that is predicted to turn into a typhoon — a possible metaphor for the four days of high-stakes diplomacy that lie ahead. As his re-election bid heats up, Trump is eager to produce breakthroughs on a series of foreign policy challenges including the showdown between the US and Iran, a trade war with China, the threat of fresh election interference by Russia and stalled nuclear talks with North Korea.
His itinerary in Osaka includes sit-downs with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, all of whom have authoritarian tendencies, as well as disquieted allies including Germany’s Angela Merkel and more contented ones such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The president left Washington days after pulling back from the brink of armed conflict with Iran and as he trades threats over its nuclear program and support for terror groups. With Iran threatening to breach uranium enrichment limits set in the 2015 nuclear accord as soon as Thursday, Trump will be asked to articulate his strategy for containing Iran to skeptical world leaders after pulling the US from the deal last year.
Trump will also meet with the Saudi crown prince, who US intelligence services concluded ordered the grisly killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a US resident. Despite the killing, Trump has continued to pursue a close relationship with Saudi Arabia, a lynchpin to the US Middle East strategy to counter Iran over its support for terror groups, its nuclear program and role in furthering humanitarian disaster in Yemen’s civil war.
Trump will also find himself face-to-face with Putin for the first time since special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation ended without finding evidence that the Trump campaign criminally conspired with Russia during the 2016 election.
— Agencies