https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy Foreign Policy en-US Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:32:47 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/transportation-duffy-ford-china-warning Gavin J. Quinton Ford called the transportation secretary’s letter a “wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines” and said it contains numerous factual errors. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:32:47 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/transportation-duffy-ford-china-warning Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has warned Ford Motor Company about maintaining “questionable foreign alliances” with Chinese companies amid calls from the Trump administration to reshore its manufacturing operations.

In a recent letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley, Duffy derided the company’s recent deals with China-backed auto manufacturers, and said Ford “fails to act as [a] reliable partner” to the American public.

“The company’s recent strategic decisions paint a troubling picture of a foundational American brand actively intertwining its future with Chinese state-backed enterprises,” Duffy wrote in the letter sent Sept. 3 and released publicly Tuesday.

Ford pushed back sharply in a statement to NOTUS on Tuesday, calling Duffy’s letter an error-filled and “wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines.”

The company said it produces more vehicles in the United States and employs more American workers than any other automaker.

Ford has been under continued pressure from the White House to return to domestic supply chains and manufacturing, and recently announced it would relocate manufacturing operations of its Lincoln models from China to the United States by 2030.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently celebrated the announcement as a tariff success, but Duffy asserted the four-year timeline “leaves an unacceptable, multi-year window of reliance on Chinese manufacturing while depriving skilled American workers of vital manufacturing jobs.”

Duffy went on to highlight Ford’s dependence on licensed technology from Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited — a company that appears on the Defense Department’s list of banned companies. He also criticized Ford over a new deal with Chinese automotive company Geely Auto to build zero-emission vehicles at a Ford factory in Spain.

Ford defended its arrangement with Chinese battery makers, saying its Michigan battery hub is owned and operated by Ford and can’t be classified as a foreign-owned manufacturing operation. The company said Duffy’s assessment of its operations in Spain are also fraught.

“Ford supports the Trump administration’s vision for advancing American innovation and manufacturing,” Ford’s response states. “Had Secretary Duffy reached out before issuing his letter to the press, we would have been happy to share more details about Ford’s U.S. commitment.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/iceland-summons-u-s-ambassador-billy-long-trump-truth-social Jenna Monnin Billy Long had been forced to apologize for an earlier joke he made calling Iceland the “52nd state.” Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:04:09 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/iceland-summons-u-s-ambassador-billy-long-trump-truth-social The U.S. ambassador to Iceland, Billy Long, was summoned by the country’s officials for a meeting on Monday just hours after President Donald Trump posted an image to Truth Social of the Arctic nation blanketed in the American flag.

Trump posted a stylized map of North and Central American nations — including Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Greenland and Iceland — covered in the stars and stripes during a posting spree to Truth Social on Sunday, an apparent indication of his interest in taking control of those countries. Trump also shared a bizarre series of AI-generated images of “Iran's Navy” on the ocean floor, the moon and the Strait of Hormuz as American territories and New Mexico renamed “New America.”

The posts caught the attention of Icelandic officials, who have tangled with the Trump administration since the president returned to office last year.

"It was made clear to him in the meeting that the post was entirely unacceptable," Iceland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir told broadcaster RÚV of her meeting with Long.

“If this is supposed to be a joke, then it is a bad joke,” she added at a press conference Tuesday, according to Arctic Today.

This isn’t the first time that Long has faced scrutiny over U.S. annexation threats. Long apologized before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February over a joke he made, first reported by Politico, to former House colleagues calling Iceland the “52nd state” and saying he’d serve as its governor.

“It was totally inappropriate,” Long told senators at the time. “I just hope that the people in Iceland will give me a second chance to make a first impression.”

Icelanders launched a petition earlier this year calling for Gunnarsdóttir to oust Long, with the effort garnering nearly 5,500 signatures.

Long joins a group of other Trump-tapped ambassadors who have faced removal campaigns and diplomatic rebukes.

Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, currently faces a removal petition that has accumulated nearly 270,000 signatures — an outgrowth of the escalating U.S.-Canada trade war.

Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, has been summoned by the country’s officials twice this year — most recently to answer for an incendiary social media post in which he mocked the country’s health minister.

Trump’s post of an American flag-covered map has renewed fears in the region of a potential U.S. annexation of Iceland's close neighbor, Greenland.

Shortly after the start of his second term, Trump pushed for the U.S. to take control of Greenland. Last January, the president even said that conversations with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, had generated “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland.

Trump maintains that Greenland, which is a Danish territory, is vital for U.S. national security, but the push has landed with a thud in Europe — particularly in Denmark, which launched massive protests in response to the president’s push for control in the Arctic.

Iceland also joined Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in a joint statement in January defending Greenland from Trump's annexation threats.

“We collectively reiterate that matters concerning Denmark and Greenland are for Denmark and Greenland to decide alone,” the foreign ministers of each country wrote.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/us-iran-war-airline-industry-sanctions-treasury Associated Press The Trump administration accused the 36 entities targeted this week of supporting the Islamic Republic's efforts to use its aviation sector to move weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:22:05 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/us-iran-war-airline-industry-sanctions-treasury By Farnoush Amiri

The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran's aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners.

The latest actions are part of the Trump administration’s Operation Economic Outcast campaign that is aimed at severing “critical financial lifelines” for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government. The new penalties target the remaining facets of Tehran’s already beleaguered aviation ecosystem, which Washington has sanctioned for years.

“Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran’s remaining airlines, all of which we sanctioned today: You are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release.

The Trump administration accused the 36 entities targeted this week of supporting the Islamic Republic's efforts to use its aviation sector to move weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo. The moves will subject foreign firms and governments that do business with the targeted entities to sanctions themselves, including a freeze on any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions.

In a post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called out the longstanding U.S. sanctions campaign against Iran, saying that the fallout “has been disastrous for America, including its standing worldwide.”

“After failing to achieve its aims through sanctions or war, Washington’s “novel” solution is…more sanctions. Seriously?” Araghchi wrote Tuesday afternoon.

The administration also claimed that private entities based in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Malaysia have provided parts and logistics services to Iran’s Mahan Air. The major airline, which flies from Tehran to a few dozen destinations in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, has been subject to U.S. counterterrorism sanctions since 2019 for its support for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

The airline was first targeted by the U.S. under the Obama administration in 2011, when it accused Mahan Air of being used to send weapons to Iranian proxies in Lebanon and Yemen.

The latest sanctions campaign is part of a two-pronged economic and military approach by President Donald Trump as he struggles to bring an end to a more than six-month-old war with Tehran.

Last week, the U.S. announced penalties against Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, a Turkish bank, which it accused of being established to enable Iran’s efforts to transfer oil revenues from China to Turkey, where they could then be converted to cash and gold.

The U.S. also said the institution “knowingly offered” banking services to Iranian financial entities, including those already sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2022 for funneling Tehran’s oil sales.

An Egyptian bank’s operations in the United Arab Emirates were also limited last month as part of the campaign, but the administration stopped short of imposing sanctions as it grapples with how to sever Iran's economic footprint without upending the global financial system.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/economy/canada-tariffs-billions-us-goods Associated Press Canada is exploring ties with the European Union that could stop just short of membership, a Canadian official familiar with the discussions said. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:33:53 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/economy/canada-tariffs-billions-us-goods By Rob Gillies

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that Canada would move faster to reduce its economic reliance on the United States and deepen ties with Europe as retaliatory tariffs took effect on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods and the country braced for U.S. President Donald Trump’s response.

“In too many areas, they wanted dependency, not a true economic partnership,” Carney said in a prerecorded video outlining his government’s plan to withstand the trade war. The prime minister said four decades of deeper economic integration had left Canada too reliant on the U.S.

Canada is exploring ties with the European Union that could stop just short of membership, a Canadian official familiar with the discussions said.

Options could include expanding existing agreements, negotiating a new treaty or creating other forms of cooperation. The official said Canada is already consulting provinces, territories and labor groups about what a deeper relationship with the EU could look like, but no model has been chosen.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks publicly.

Carney is due in Strasbourg, France, next week, where he will attend European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address Sept. 16 and address the European Parliament the following day.

The trade war began after Trump returned to office and imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods despite having negotiated and repeatedly praised the North American trade agreement during his first term. Many of those tariffs violate the pact.

The rupture is especially striking because the countries have long shared one of the world’s closest relationships, with deeply integrated economies, close defense and security cooperation, vast cultural ties and, before relations deteriorated, about 400,000 people crossing the border each day.

Canada looks beyond the US

The latest U.S. trade actions will cause short-term pain, Carney acknowledged, but he said they would push Canada to move faster on investment, infrastructure and trade diversification. He acknowledged the shift would be costly but said standing still would cost more.

Carney contrasted Canada’s deteriorating relationship with Washington with its push to deepen ties elsewhere. “For the past year and a half, we have been steering our economy toward trusted partners,” he said.

“It was easy business, but it meant we relied too much on one economic partner,” he said. “That time is over.”

Canada retaliates as Trump response looms

Carney defended the retaliation, saying Canada was matching the latest U.S. measures dollar for dollar while supporting affected workers and industries and accelerating efforts to expand trade with other countries.

“We can’t let American goods into Canada tariff-free while they charge our companies to export to them,” he said.

Canada was not seeking to escalate the confrontation, he said, but the tariffs were necessary to protect Canadian workers.

The prime minister also defended Canada’s decision to walk away from the talks, saying Washington sought limits on French-language and cultural protections, influence over future trade deals, and terms that would weaken the auto, steel and forestry sectors.

How the trade war ends could carry consequences far beyond Canada, testing whether a smaller U.S. ally can resist Trump’s economic pressure without being forced to yield.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has suggested Washington could retaliate by blocking some Canadian products from the U.S. market.

The Canadian official said Ottawa does not intend to change course regardless of whether Trump responds with nothing or what the official called a “nuclear response.” The government’s strategy will remain focused on building more at home and diversifying trade abroad, the official said.

The tariffs hit hundreds of American products, including steel, aluminum, cheese, appliances, clothing, cosmetics and farm equipment, at rates of 15%, 25% or 50%. They cover about $20 billion in American goods, roughly 6% of the $333.6 billion the United States exported to Canada last year.

Since Canada-U.S. trade talks collapsed Aug. 21, Trump and his administration have imposed additional tariffs and issued a series of threats and attacks portraying Canada as weak and dependent.

Trump’s trade war and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have fueled anger and rallied support for Carney. Canadians have sharply cut travel to the United States and boycotted U.S. goods.

Carney praised those efforts, saying “every time we choose to buy Canadian and travel in Canada, we are sending a message that nobody is in the stands, 40 million of us are on the ice.”

Neither side is rushing back to the table

Gabriel Brunet, a spokesman for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, said officials from both countries remain in contact even though formal negotiations have not resumed.

“Canadian and American officials have maintained ongoing discussions on a range of issues, although formal trade negotiations are not taking place at this stage,” Brunet said.

Former U.S. trade official Wendy Cutler said neither side appeared eager to make the first move.

“With a growing public approval rating now topping 70%, Prime Minister Carney is not in any hurry to reach out to Washington. But importantly, he has not closed the door to talks,” she said. “Clearly, at this point each side does not want to look too anxious to reengage in fear of looking weak.”

Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-canada-bombardier-kansas-plane-jet-manufacturing-tariffs Associated Press Bombardier has a significant presence is Kansas, which Trump won by about 16 percentage points in 2024. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:00:58 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-canada-bombardier-kansas-plane-jet-manufacturing-tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier unless it manufactures planes in the United States.

In response, the maker of private jets noted that many components for its planes, including the wings, are produced in the U.S. and its supply chain relies heavily on U.S. companies.

Since Canada-U.S. trade talks collapsed on Aug. 21, Trump and his administration have unleashed a barrage of tariffs, threats and personal attacks portraying Canada as weak and dependent. Canada retaliated Tuesday with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods.

“NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough!” Trump said in a Monday social media post. “If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.’”

Bombardier said in a statement that the American aerospace industry is a “clear winner on trade and exports.” It said it creates tens of thousands of jobs both directly and through its supply chain.

Bombardier's supply chain includes about 2,800 U.S. companies in 47 states, it said. Among other things, wings for its business jets are made in Texas and flight control components are produced near Los Angeles.

“Bombardier values its great partnership with American companies and its U.S. employees. Our plan is to continue to invest in our people, our customers, and the communities in which we operate across the country,” it said.

One state where Bombardier has a significant presence is Kansas, which Trump won by about 16 percentage points in 2024.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said in a social media post Monday that Bombardier supports a local workforce of more than 1,000 Kansans.

“I reached out to the Trump administration to make certain the President is aware of the significant contributions of Bombardier to Kansas and the importance of its presence in Wichita to many Kansas workers at Bombardier and in the Bombardier supply chain,” Moran wrote in his post.

Moran promised to continued working to ensure that the planemaker's manufacturing operations remain in Kansas.

Earlier this year, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that his government will buy six early warning radar planes from Sweden’s Saab and Bombardier, rather than from U.S. aircraft makers. The Saab planes use Bombardier’s Global 6500 aircraft platform, supporting Canadian manufacturing. They have 20% U.S. content. The alternatives would have been U.S.-made E-7A Wedgetail surveillance aircraft made by Boeing or the Aeris X, made by L3Harris.

The Canadian government is reviewing plans to buy U.S. F-35 fighter jets. Saab has proposed making its Gripen fighter jet in Canada.

Bombardier is one of Canada's oldest and most well-known manufacturers. The company was founded by Joseph-Armand Bombardier, an inventor and entrepreneur in Canada’s rural Quebec who started out making snowmobiles and other snow-going equipment in the 1930s.

Over its long history, it entered and left the train-making business and expanded for a time into making regional and commercial aircraft. But it sold off those parts of its business as it restructured to focus on making private business jets.

The company also has spun off parts of its business making snowmobiles and other recreational equipment.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/german-far-right-party-regional-elections Associated Press It wasn't immediately clear if the party would be able to form the country's first far-right state government since World War II. Sun, 06 Sep 2026 20:36:40 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/german-far-right-party-regional-elections By Geir Moulson and Kerstin Sopke

MAGDEBURG, Germany — The far-right Alternative for Germany was projected to win a strong victory in a regional election Sunday, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether it would be able to fulfill its ambition of forming the country’s first far-right state government since World War II.

The party of German's unpopular leader, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, was set for a disastrous result in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The anti-migration and Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany's candidate for governor said that “we have written history.”

Ulrich Siegmund, 35, told public broadcaster ARD that voters had sent a signal that “things cannot carry on like this” and that it was “also a signal toward Berlin.” Of Germany’s unpopular leader, he said: “A very good campaigner for us in this election campaign was Friedrich Merz. Every day this man is in the chancellery is one too many.”

AfD wanted to govern on its own

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, went into the vote seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern on its own. That would overcome the so-called firewall of mainstream parties’ refusal to work with AfD, but it was unclear long after polls closed whether it would happen.

A first state government would be the biggest prize in the anti-migration party’s 13-year history, at a time of widespread discontent with a national government that has yet to persuade voters that it can get the country’s sluggish economy moving.

Whether or not AfD can form a government, the projected result is a blow to Merz, whose center-right party has led Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years. Unlike other countries in Europe, modern Germany hasn't yet had a far-right or right-wing populist party leading a national, state or major-city government.

AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany’s national parliament and is strongest in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, where Saxony-Anhalt is located.

Its regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is one of several classified as Its regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is one of several classified as a proven right-wing extremist group by the domestic intelligence agency, which points to members' denigration of migrants from Muslim countries among other things.

The party talks of “remigration,” a politically charged term for the deportation of immigrants. Its leader in a neighboring state appealed two convictions for knowingly using a Nazi slogan.

AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism and says they're politically motivated.

Big decline for German leader's party

Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and partial counting, put AfD at a bit over 44% of the vote, more than double its showing five years ago in the region of 2.1 million people west of Berlin.

That was far ahead of Merz's Christian Democratic Union which was seen polling 18% and losing about half its support. The Left Party, the center-left Social Democrats and Greens were seen taking around 9% each.

It was unclear whether the BSW party would get the 5% of the vote needed to win seats. The projections put AfD at least marginally short of an absolute majority, though that could change.

AfD's national co-leader, Alice Weidel, described the projected result as “sensational” and said that “we have received a very clear mandate to govern here.” The party's “hand is outstretched to all who want to make Saxony-Anhalt better and move Germany forward,” she said.

A visibly disappointed incumbent governor, Sven Schulze, congratulated AfD on becoming the state's strongest political force and said that “we as the CDU will also have to deal with this result,” without specifying how.

Franziska Hoppermann, the national general-secretary of Merz's party, rejected the idea of backing off its refusal to deal with AfD.

“AfD is a right-wing extremist party. It wants to leave the euro; that would be economic downfall ... it works closely together with Russia, it wants a completely different social model,” she said. “We will not work with them.”

There already has been one case in which AfD won a state election but didn’t end up governing. That was two years ago in neighboring Thuringia, where a CDU governor took power with a minority government, but against a regional AfD that was well short of a majority.

If the result allows Schulze to try to put together some kind of alliance with smaller parties, that would be delicate, because it would require at least some tacit support from the Left Party, a hard-left party with which the CDU refuses to form coalitions.

Germany's states have extensive powers

Germany’s 16 states have extensive powers, for example in overseeing security matters and running the education system.

Siegmund has listed among his top priorities “a deportation offensive” and dropping incentives for people to come to Germany and “exploit our social system.” He wants to initiate a long process to withdraw Saxony-Anhalt from the regional public broadcaster, citing concerns about “disinformation.”

AfD in Saxony-Anhalt wants to allow home schooling, which so far isn’t permitted in Germany. It pledges to ban schools from officially raising the rainbow flag and ensure they fly the national flag. It opposes taxpayers’ money being “given away” to Ukraine and says it would push to lift sanctions against Russia, but that isn’t a matter state governments can decide.

State governments also sit in Germany's upper house of parliament, which has to approve some government legislation. The influence there of Saxony-Anhalt, one of the smaller states in a nation of 83.5 people, is limited — it controls four of the 69 votes.

Geir Moulson reported from Berlin.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/kushner-witkoff-talks-ukraine-putin-russia Associated Press The U.S. envoys are making their first visit to Kyiv in a renewed push to end the Russian war in Ukraine. Sun, 06 Sep 2026 15:58:37 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/kushner-witkoff-talks-ukraine-putin-russia By Samya Kullab

KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held “encouraging” talks in Kyiv on Sunday in their first official visit to Ukraine as part of a renewed push to end more than 4½ years of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The trip by the Americans follows a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, as both sides have escalated their aerial attacks. Washington’s push to end the fighting has lost momentum, with the Trump administration focused for the past six months on the Iran war.

Russia has recently been using fast-flying, jet-powered drones, and the recurring wail of air-raid sirens has become part of daily life in Kyiv. Troops have struggled to make progress along the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line.

Following two rounds of discussion with the U.S. officials, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the goal was a “just, fair peace” that would ensure there was “never an opportunity to resume aggression against Ukraine.”

He also thanked the American negotiators, who traveled by train, for coming to Kyiv, their first time in Ukraine. Zelenskyy said the next round of talks later Sunday would bring in national security advisers from Britain, France and Germany.

“We’ve had very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we’re very encouraged,” Witkoff said.

Kushner said that President Donald Trump sees it as important “not just to figure out how do we end the current war,” but how do create the conditions for durable peace.

A senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that much of the discussion was focused on "how to get through the winter and what can be done before then.”

No breakthroughs in Moscow talks

Saturday's meeting in Moscow lasted more than three hours behind closed doors and ended without any major developments being announced. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, described the talks as constructive, frank and useful, but he didn’t discuss specific outcomes.

While Moscow offered its “comprehensive assessment” of the battlefield situation in Ukraine, Ushakov said, the talks weren't purely focused on the war in Ukraine.

“Economic issues and potentially large, mutually beneficial joint projects for Russia and America were discussed in considerable detail,” he said.

The last known visit to Moscow by Witkoff and Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was in January when they also held talks with Putin at the Kremlin.

Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange fire

Putin and Zelenskyy had agreed to pause strikes on each other’s capitals while the talks take place. Still, the two traded fire overnight into Sunday, officials said.

Russian attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions killed one person and wounded at least 10 others overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

In Zaporizhzhia, drone strikes killed a 74-year-old man and wounded three people, while a drone damaged an apartment building, wounding seven people, in the Khmelnytskyi region.

Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that it intercepted 82 drones out of the 108 launched by Russia overnight, along with six missiles.

In Russia, a man was killed and a woman was seriously wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a vehicle, local authorities in the Belgorod border region said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that its air defenses overnight shot down 258 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the waters of the Black and Azov Seas.

Mixed hopes on the ground

In Kyiv on Sunday, dozens gathered for a nationwide 9 a.m. moment of silence honoring Ukraine’s fallen soldiers, a daily ritual held in cities across the country.

Nataliia Lipei, 67, whose son Viktor was killed in December 2022, was among those who attended. Despite a health condition, she has traveled from city to city to take part, and she said that she hopes the talks in Moscow and Kyiv will finally bring an end to the war.

“I hope these steps and these meetings will definitely produce results, because there has been so much bloodshed and so many deaths here that we have to stop all of this,” Lipei told The Associated Press.

Not everyone shared her hope for the talks. Oleksandr Pastukhov, a 27-year-old video editor who joined the commemoration, was skeptical that the envoys’ visit would change anything.

“We’ve already seen delegations like this come here before,” he said. “We’ve seen this so-called ceasefire for three days, which ended after just a couple of hours, and now we’re supposed to naively think that two people will come and change something.”

In his Sunday prayer, Pope Leo XIV renewed his appeal for peace in Ukraine and said he hopes the negotiations will bring results.

“I hope that the efforts undertaken in recent days to resume negotiations will bear concrete fruit and make way for diplomacy," he told the gathered faithful in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Associated Press journalists Volodymyr Yurchuk and Yevhenii Ocheretianyi in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Elise Morton in London contributed to this report.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/state-dinner-china-president-xi-jinping-visit-washington-dc Gavin J. Quinton, Jasmine Wright Trump revealed the plans while signing an executive order in the Oval Office Friday. Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:42:04 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/state-dinner-china-president-xi-jinping-visit-washington-dc President Donald Trump said that he plans to host a state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping during his counterpart’s upcoming visit to Washington later this month.

Xi is expected in D.C. around Sept. 24 for a summit with the president. The meeting comes as the administration steps up pressure both on countries and companies accused of supporting Iran.

Asked what the reception would signal to U.S. allies given China’s close economic relationship with Iran, Trump played down Beijing’s involvement with Tehran.

“I said, ‘Please don’t get involved,’ to President Xi,” Trump told NOTUS during an executive order signing in the Oval Office Friday. “They’re not really involved — very little involvement by China.”

China is a major importer of Iranian oil, and the White House has sanctioned Chinese companies over their alleged support for Tehran.

Trump argued that China continues to buy Iranian oil because it has a strong interest in maintaining its own economic stability.

“They get 50% of their oil from the Hormuz Strait, and by the way, pipelines are being built right now,” he said, referencing new pipelines through Syria he claims will make the Strait of Hormuz less essential.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/jd-vance-war-iran-trump-press-briefing Jenna Monnin President Trump has expressed continued confidence that the conflict will end soon, while Vance says he wouldn’t “set an artificial timeline.” Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:36:49 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/jd-vance-war-iran-trump-press-briefing Vice President JD Vance downplayed the U.S.’s conflict with Iran on Thursday, saying he “wouldn’t call it a war” — contrasting President Donald Trump’s ongoing references to a “war that we’re easily winning.”

“The phrase ‘an end to the war,’ I want to push back on that just a little bit because major combat operations are currently not ongoing, and they haven't been ongoing in a very long time,” Vance said while hosting the White House press briefing Thursday.

When asked about when the monthslong war might end, Vance told reporters he can’t provide an “artificial timeline” should Iranians “start blowing up oil and gas ships” after that hypothetical deadline.

“It would be irresponsible for us to write out our strategy and our timeline for an Iranian nation that simply cannot honor its commitments and cannot stop shooting at commercial ships,” Vance said.

Trump has adopted a much different posture to describe the ongoing hostilities with Iran. The president has continued to call it a “war” when speaking to reporters and posting about the conflict on Truth Social.

In a post just hours before Vance’s briefing, Trump called the conflict a war as he criticized the media for reporting on depleted munitions stockpiles putting a strain on combat operations in the Middle East, which the White House has vehemently denied.

“The people and Media Outlets that keep harping on the fact that we have no ammunition (And they are 100% wrong!), are actually treasonous. They do it because they would rather see the United States LOSE a War that we’re easily WINNING,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.

While Vance says an end to the conflict depends on Iran’s action, Trump has continued to express confidence that the war is “going to end pretty soon,” suggesting this week that the most recent exchange of fire between the U.S. and Iran won’t last “too long.”

The U.S. resumed major strikes against Iran this week and targeted assets in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump threatened Iran with the “biggest attack of them all,” but the country still launched retaliatory strikes on the U.S.’s regional allies, including Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

The Strait of Hormuz has remained a critical juncture throughout the conflict because a significant amount of the global oil supply passes through it. As Vance noted Thursday, Iran has been able to have a substantial “effect on world energy markets” by targeting commercial shipping vessels.

The U.S. has maintained a heavy naval presence in the strait. Trump floated renaming the waterway “Trump Strait” on Wednesday on Truth Social, though he later said he was “just throwing that out.”
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/trump-uk-control-falkland-islands-argentina-britain-strait-iran-war Avani Kalra The president suggested that the UK’s lack of assistance during his war with Iran has made him think twice about supporting Britain’s claim to the territory. Thu, 03 Sep 2026 14:25:22 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/trump-uk-control-falkland-islands-argentina-britain-strait-iran-war President Donald Trump hinted on Thursday that he is reconsidering U.S. support for the U.K.’s claim to the Falkland Islands because of the country’s lack of support for his war against Iran.

Trump told British news channel GB News that Washington might not back the U.K. if Argentina were to invade the islands.

“Your country was not there to help me,” Trump said in a clip of the interview released on Thursday, referencing his frustration over Britain’s refusal to back U.S. military operations in Iran.

The U.S. has historically been neutral in the conflict, although Washington supported Britain’s campaign to control the Islands following an invasion by Argentina in 1982. In a 2013 referendum, residents voted 99.8% to remain a British overseas territory.

Trump’s comments come after Argentinian President Javier Milei, who has a close relationship with Trump, has launched an effort to claim control of the islands, restarting a long-standing dispute with the U.K. over the territory.

“The Malvinas were, are, and will always be Argentine,” Milei wrote on X in April.

Trump has repeatedly signaled his frustration with England and NATO for a lack of support in his ongoing war in Iran.

In the interview, Trump maintained that the U.K. is “not doing very well” and suggested the country had been weakened by repeated closures of the Strait of Hormuz. He argued the U.K. is “not the same country it was” when it initially won control over the Falkland Islands.

“I asked your former leader, ‘Why didn't you send a couple of ships?’” Trump said of the U.K.’s response to his war against Iran. “He said we don't have any, and it was pretty sad, the whole thing. So NATO was not there, even though most of those countries get a big portion of their oil from there.”

Trump also told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that the United States was reviewing its position on the islands. Those comments followed reporting by The Daily Telegraph that the Pentagon was reviewing the U.S. position on the islands in order to incentivize its NATO allies to up their defense spending commitments.

“I always review every position,” Trump said. “That’s just one of many.]]>