Ukraine-Russia meeting: a “constructive” first day of negotiations, according to Volodymyr Zelensky

American Secretary of State Marco Rubio estimated on Tuesday December 10 that American economic pressure on Iran was such that there is currently “no need” for a major military operation, echoing President Donald Trump who considered a resumption of large-scale hostilities unlikely. “The economic (pressure) campaign (against Iran) is so devastating that there is no need, at this time, for major combat operations,” he said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris, adding: “That is what I told our allies here today.”

A “constructive and quite substantial” day

“Obviously, if Iran crosses certain red lines, if its regime does certain things that should not happen (...) the American army, the most capable military force in the world, is ready to respond,” he however warned. Thanks to the American blockade, Iranian oil exports are drying up according to him and the American authorities are working to prevent Tehran from circumventing the sanctions, assured Marco Rubio.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, described the first day of American-mediated talks between kyiv and Moscow, Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, as “constructive and quite substantial”. “The trilateral format was constructive and quite substantial,” he said on X after receiving a report from the kyiv delegation. He added that he had given “clear instructions to continue the dialogue, in trilateral format tomorrow and also more broadly, in the coming days, with the emissaries of the American president and representatives of Europe”.

A resumption of strikes is “unlikely”, according to Donald Trump

“So the economic cost inflicted on Iran and this regime right now is extraordinary. And it is increasing, it is increasing every day,” according to him. There is therefore “no reason to disrupt” this economic pressure campaign. Donald Trump said Monday that he saw "positive momentum" in favor of an agreement to end the war with Iran, a country he said was "finished militarily", after his meeting with the Prime Minister of Qatar, a mediating country in the conflict opened by the Israeli-American strikes at the end of February.

Negotiations to avoid a major resumption of hostilities appear to have recently intensified. In a message published on his Truth Social network, the American president, accustomed to contradictory statements regarding Iran, affirmed that a resumption of strikes against Iran is “unlikely” but that the United States remains “ready to intervene”.