Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Iran’s efforts to postpone nuclear talks, North Korea reaffirming its close ties to Russia, and King Charles III’s big trip to the United States.
Delaying Nuclear Talks
Tehran has offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the United States lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. However, the proposal—first reported on Monday—demands that discussions on Iran’s nuclear program be postponed until after these two conditions are met.
U.S. President Donald Trump is unlikely to accept this offer, having previously vowed not to lift the U.S. naval blockade until a deal with Iran is “100% COMPLETE.” Such an agreement will almost certainly demand limits on Tehran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, as restricting Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons was a primary reason for why the U.S. military first launched strikes at Iran on Feb. 28. “Everything will be peanuts compared to that, if they ever were given a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters on Saturday.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is for civilian use only and that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Pakistani-led efforts to bring U.S. and Iranian officials back in the same room are looking increasingly futile. The two sides were scheduled to meet is Islamabad over the weekend for a second round of peace talks—only for Trump to call off the meeting and instead demand that dialogue be held over the phone.
“Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their [Iran’s] ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”
The U.S. no-show didn’t stop Iran from pursuing its own diplomatic agenda, though. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made two stops in Pakistan over the weekend as well as visited Oman. Tehran hopes to persuade Muscat to support a mechanism that would enable Iran to collect tolls from vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz; it was not immediately clear how Oman responded to the idea.
Araghchi also spoke with his counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia over the weekend before traveling to St. Petersburg on Monday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During that visit, Putin praised the Iranian people for “bravely and heroically fighting for their sovereignty,” and he vowed to do “everything” possible to bring peace to the Middle East.
Last week, Trump agreed to extend the U.S.-Iran cease-fire indefinitely. And on Monday, the U.S. president convened his top national security advisors to discuss the Iran war. Yet the White House remains opposed to any deal that excludes limits on Iran’s nuclear program.
“As the president has said, the United States holds the cards and will only make a deal that puts the American people first, never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told Axios.
Today’s Most Read
The World This Week
Tuesday, April 28: The deadline for Kosovo’s parliament to elect a new president or face snap elections is set to expire.
Brunei hosts a ministerial meeting between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
French President Emmanuel Macron visits Andorra.
Wednesday, April 29: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hosts Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar.
France hosts a two-day meeting of G-7 development ministers.
Thursday, April 30: Antigua and Barbuda hold early parliamentary elections.
Friday, May 1: The EU-Mercosur trade deal takes effect.
Saturday, May 2: The island of Niue holds a general election.
Monday, May 4: Ukraine’s latest extension of martial law is set to expire.
Brussels hosts eurozone finance ministers.
What We’re Following
“Written in blood.” North Korea unveiled a memorial museum on Sunday to honor its soldiers killed fighting for Russia in the Ukraine war. “We have inscribed in this memorial hall a new history of friendship with Russia written in blood and a new history of justice won with blood,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said, adding that Pyongyang will continue to support Moscow in the years to come. Russia said the museum’s opening coincided with the first anniversary of joint Russian-North Korean efforts to recapture parts of the Ukrainian-held Kursk region.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Pyongyang has supplied Moscow with large shipments of artillery shells and missiles. That level of participation expanded in October 2024, when North Korea deployed thousands of troops to Russia. South Korean intelligence estimates that at least 2,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed in the fighting thus far.
The sacrifice of North Korean troops “will forever remain in the hearts of all Russian citizens,” Putin reportedly wrote to Kim, according to North Korean state media. The two countries have also pledged to sign a five-year plan to bolster bilateral military cooperation.
The royal treatment. King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Washington on Monday for the British royal family’s first state visit to the United States since 2007. It was initially unclear if the couple would attend, after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday reportedly targeted Trump and his top officials. On Sunday, though, Buckingham Palace confirmed that the visit would go ahead as planned.
Charles and Camilla have a packed itinerary during their four-day stay, starting with a private tea at the White House. But Charles’s most anticipated event will be on Tuesday, when the king will address a joint session of Congress, becoming the second British monarch in history to do so.
Charles’s visit comes at a precarious time for U.S.-U.K. relations. Buckingham Palace has stated that the trip’s official purpose is to “recognize the shared history of our two nations” just a few months before the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary of independence. However, Trump could use this opportunity to express his frustration with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer—particularly, London’s hesitance to aid U.S. forces in the Iran war. As Charles is largely a symbolic figurehead, though, he is expected to try to avoid engaging in the White House’s political entanglements.
Also of note, the king will not be meeting with victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during his visit despite calls by Democratic lawmakers for him to do so. The Crown has sought to distance itself from the scandal after it was revealed that Charles’s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly known as Prince Andrew) had close ties to Epstein and was accused by one of Epstein’s victims of sexual assault when she was underage. The former prince has not been charged with a crime related to that accusation and continues to deny any wrongdoing in his relations with Epstein.
Jihadi offensive. Al Qaeda-linked militants killed Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara during a series of coordinated attacks over the weekend. According to Malian government spokesperson Issa Ousmane Coulibaly, a vehicle “laden with explosives and driven by a suicide attacker” targeted Camara’s residence outside the capital of Bamako on Saturday. Simultaneously, militants used armed drones and car bombs to target several other cities across Mali.
The killing of Camara and the overall breadth of these attacks mark a major blow for the Malian military, which has struggled to quell jihadi groups vying for control. Among the most powerful of these groups is Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which seeks to impose its version of Islamic law across much of West Africa. On Sunday, JNIM claimed responsibility for the attack on Camara, declared “complete control” of the central Malian city of Mopti, and said it had also captured the town of Kidal.
Maj. Gen. Oumar Diarra, the Malian military’s chief of general staff, said on Sunday that more than 200 terrorists had been “neutralized,” adding that “search and sweep operations are continuing in practically all areas and we are searching for them, pursuing them, and destroying them wherever they are found.” A two-day period of national mourning for Camara’s killing began on Monday.
Odds and Ends
With 30 seconds to spare, a Kenyan runner became the first man on Sunday to finish an official marathon in under two hours. At 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds, Sabastian Sawe, 31, sprinted to victory in this weekend’s London Marathon. “I am feeling good,” Sawe told the BBC afterward. “I am happy. It’s a day to remember for me.” But Sawe was not the only one making history that day. Ethiopian athlete Tigst Assefa broke the world record in the women-only category, beating her previously set record of 2:15.50 by 9 seconds during Sunday’s race.
Meanwhile, FP’s World Brief writer got winded walking up a steep hill in Washington, D.C., yesterday. But we all have to start somewhere.
