The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has arrived in Rome. The plane landed at Ciampino airport amid strict security measures. The head of the State Department, responsible for US foreign policy, will be in the Vatican this morning, tomorrow at Palazzo Chigi. Meetings are also scheduled with the Foreign and Defense Ministers, Antonio Tajani and Guido Crosetto. After arriving, the long procession of cars left the airport around 9am.
According to US media, today Iran will respond to the American draft agreement: 14 points to end the war and establish a framework for more detailed negotiations. The plan includes Tehran’s commitment to a nuclear moratorium, Washington’s approval for the lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen funds and the opening of Hormuz. Some clauses of the US draft are “unacceptable”, according to the Islamic regime. Today in the Vatican the long-awaited meeting between Leone and Rubio, amid tensions after Trump’s attacks on the pope. The Church is on the side of the victims of war, reiterates Prevost. The USA is “an essential interlocutor of the Holy See”, underlines Parolin. “Iran cannot possess a nuclear weapon”: this is the message that Trump says he wants to convey to Leone from Rubio. Tomorrow the US Secretary of State will then see Meloni. Meanwhile, the prime minister today receives Magyar, Tusk and Dbeibeh.