United States President Donald Trump abruptly left the G7 summit being held in Canada last night, leaving a day early as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensified, Beta news agency reports.
Reuters reports that Trump said late on Monday that his early departure from the Group of Seven summit had "nothing to do" with work on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, rejecting comments by French President Emmanuel Macron who said the US president had made a proposal for a ceasefire.
Macron "wrongly said I left the G7 summit in Canada to return to Washington to work on a 'ceasefire' between Israel and Iran," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform as he left the G7 summit in Canada to return to Washington.
"Wrong! He has no idea why I'm on my way to Washington now, but it certainly has nothing to do with the ceasefire. Much more than that," Trump added in the post.
Macron said earlier on Monday that Trump had offered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. "There is indeed an offer for a meeting and an exchange. The offer is to achieve a ceasefire and then to launch broader discussions," Macron told reporters at the G7 summit.
World leaders gathered in Canada to help ease global tensions, but the gathering was disrupted by a conflict over Iran's nuclear program that could escalate in uncontrollable ways, the AP agency writes.
Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran four days ago.
At the summit, Trump warned that Tehran needed to curb its nuclear program before it was "too late."
He said Iranian leaders would like to talk but had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on nuclear ambitions and had failed to do so before the Israeli attack began, stressing that "they have to reach an agreement."
Trump, who boarded Air Force One in Calgary and is returning to Washington, did not speak to reporters. He is skipping the G7 meetings scheduled for today, where he was scheduled to meet with leaders of some of the countries invited to the summit, such as the Mexican president and the Ukrainian president, as well as discuss ongoing trade issues.
The US president left the G7 summit early "because of what is happening in the Middle East," his press secretary wrote on the X network.
Trump only said it was "very important" to return to Washington for, as he added, "big things."
He previously called on Iranians to evacuate Tehran immediately via social media.
This has sparked much speculation, such as that US troops could join Israeli attacks on Iran, but this has been firmly denied by officials in the White House and Washington.
Trump has asked the National Security Council to meet in Washington, but the US will not join an Israeli offensive on Iran, US officials have said, the BBC reports.
Before leaving the summit, Trump signed a joint statement with other G7 leaders on the conflict between Iran and Israel, describing Tehran as "a major source of regional instability and terror." The statement made no call for a ceasefire.
G7 leaders said Israel has the right to defend itself, that Iran is a source of terror and that it should not have nuclear weapons. They called for a resolution to the Iran crisis that would lead to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, in a diplomatic compromise that preserved the unity of the G7 but weakened the impact of such a declaration, the BBC reports.
Trump posed for a picture with other G7 leaders last night and simply said "I have to get back, it's very important."
The host of the gathering, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said he was very grateful for the president's presence and "completely understood."
Trump's abrupt departure has only deepened the crisis in a world that appears to be on the brink of several major disruptions. But deeper down, Trump saw a better path for the United States to act alone rather than in consensus with the other G7 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain, the AP estimates.
Bonus video:
