Absence of Trump

On Monday morning, US President Donald Trump was the only G7 leader that did not show up at a G7 session on climate, oceans and biodiversity. At the afternoon news conference, Trump called himself an environmentalist. He said his absence was due to his bilateral meetings with leaders from Germany and India. But both Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the environment session.

Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord has been regarded as a major setback for the global cause.

Iran also became a major subject of the G7 summit. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise visit to Biarritz to meet Macron, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and British and German officials.

At the news conference on Monday, Macron said he had informed Trump of his plan to invite Zarif for the visit.

Trump said he is open to meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani under the right circumstances. Tensions between the US and Iran have escalated after Trump pulled the US out from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

Rouhani said on Tuesday that a meeting with Trump would be just a photo op and "that is not possible", adding that the US president first must lift sanctions imposed on Teheran.

China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Iran have all hoped to salvage the deal.

AFP and AP contributed to this story.