٠٠:٠٣:٢٥Mandatory credit: US State Department
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller described Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's trips to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing as 'concerning', during the press briefing in DC on Monday.
Asked if there was anything 'productive' in the visits, Miller replied: "No, not at all."
"We find it concerning," he said. "Before he traveled to Russia, and you did see the Hungarian prime minister travel to Ukraine. We thought that was an important thing for him to do. We thought that was a productive step."
"We would welcome, of course, actual diplomacy with Russia to make it clear to Russia that they need to respect Ukraine's sovereignty, that they need to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity, but that is not at all what this visit appears to have been," Miller claimed.
Commenting on Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow, Miller added that the US had 'concerns' about its 'strategic partner's' relationship with Russia.
On Iran's new president, reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, the spokesperson said that Washington had "no expectations that this election will lead to a fundamental change in Iran's direction or its policies".
"At the end of the day, it's not the president that has the ultimate say over the future of Iran's policy," he added. "It's the Supreme Leader."
"If the new president had the authority to make steps to curtail Iran's nuclear programme, to stop funding terrorism, to stop destabilising activities in the region, those would be steps that we would welcome," he continued.
Pezeshkian defeated conservative Saeed Jalili in a runoff on Friday. The election was held following the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
Orban visited Ukraine, Russia and China ahead of the NATO Summit in DC, describing it as his 'peace mission'. Hungary recently took over presidency of the Council of the EU although the bloc's other leadership - and NATO - denied the PM was representing them.
The Hungarian leader wrote on X that "you cannot make peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels. Even if the rotating EU-Presidency has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU, we cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end."
The 75th NATO Summit in DC begins on Tuesday and continues until July 11.
'We find it concerning' - State Dept spox on Orban's Ukraine 'peace mission'
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller described Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's trips to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing as 'concerning', during the press briefing in DC on Monday.
Asked if there was anything 'productive' in the visits, Miller replied: "No, not at all."
"We find it concerning," he said. "Before he traveled to Russia, and you did see the Hungarian prime minister travel to Ukraine. We thought that was an important thing for him to do. We thought that was a productive step."
"We would welcome, of course, actual diplomacy with Russia to make it clear to Russia that they need to respect Ukraine's sovereignty, that they need to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity, but that is not at all what this visit appears to have been," Miller claimed.
Commenting on Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow, Miller added that the US had 'concerns' about its 'strategic partner's' relationship with Russia.
On Iran's new president, reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, the spokesperson said that Washington had "no expectations that this election will lead to a fundamental change in Iran's direction or its policies".
"At the end of the day, it's not the president that has the ultimate say over the future of Iran's policy," he added. "It's the Supreme Leader."
"If the new president had the authority to make steps to curtail Iran's nuclear programme, to stop funding terrorism, to stop destabilising activities in the region, those would be steps that we would welcome," he continued.
Pezeshkian defeated conservative Saeed Jalili in a runoff on Friday. The election was held following the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
Orban visited Ukraine, Russia and China ahead of the NATO Summit in DC, describing it as his 'peace mission'. Hungary recently took over presidency of the Council of the EU although the bloc's other leadership - and NATO - denied the PM was representing them.
The Hungarian leader wrote on X that "you cannot make peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels. Even if the rotating EU-Presidency has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU, we cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end."
The 75th NATO Summit in DC begins on Tuesday and continues until July 11.
Mandatory credit: US State Department
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller described Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's trips to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing as 'concerning', during the press briefing in DC on Monday.
Asked if there was anything 'productive' in the visits, Miller replied: "No, not at all."
"We find it concerning," he said. "Before he traveled to Russia, and you did see the Hungarian prime minister travel to Ukraine. We thought that was an important thing for him to do. We thought that was a productive step."
"We would welcome, of course, actual diplomacy with Russia to make it clear to Russia that they need to respect Ukraine's sovereignty, that they need to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity, but that is not at all what this visit appears to have been," Miller claimed.
Commenting on Indian PM Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow, Miller added that the US had 'concerns' about its 'strategic partner's' relationship with Russia.
On Iran's new president, reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, the spokesperson said that Washington had "no expectations that this election will lead to a fundamental change in Iran's direction or its policies".
"At the end of the day, it's not the president that has the ultimate say over the future of Iran's policy," he added. "It's the Supreme Leader."
"If the new president had the authority to make steps to curtail Iran's nuclear programme, to stop funding terrorism, to stop destabilising activities in the region, those would be steps that we would welcome," he continued.
Pezeshkian defeated conservative Saeed Jalili in a runoff on Friday. The election was held following the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
Orban visited Ukraine, Russia and China ahead of the NATO Summit in DC, describing it as his 'peace mission'. Hungary recently took over presidency of the Council of the EU although the bloc's other leadership - and NATO - denied the PM was representing them.
The Hungarian leader wrote on X that "you cannot make peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels. Even if the rotating EU-Presidency has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU, we cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end."
The 75th NATO Summit in DC begins on Tuesday and continues until July 11.