Exclusive — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Pulling for Trump to Secure Deal with Iran: ‘Should Eventually Bring the U.S. and Europe Closer Together’

DELPHI, Greece — Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Breitbart News he is pulling for U.S. President Donald Trump to secure a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran to end hostilities in the Middle East and restore stability to the region, opening the Strait of Hormuz and helping the world’s energy markets recover from the last couple months of “economic fallout.”

Mitsotakis sat down with Breitbart News for an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Delphi Economic Forum, an annual gathering of world leaders held here in the mountains of Greece.

Mitsotakis’s interview comes about a year after he told Breitbart News, in the immediate aftermath of Trump levying tariffs worldwide on Liberation Day in his first year back in the White House, that the whole world needed to remain calm and that the United States and the European Union would reach a trade deal soon thereafter than was “win win” for everyone. He ended up being correct on that front, as just a few months later the U.S. and the EU reached a deal that Trump and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed when Trump was in Scotland at his Turnberry golf resort in July last year.

Now, Mitsotakis is calling his shot again, pushing for the hope that the United States and Iran reach an agreement to end the U.S. war in Iran and bring back stability to world energy markets, telling Breitbart News in this exclusive interview that he is hopeful that can be achieved and sooner rather than later. Mitsotakis also said he agrees with Trump that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon but now that Trump has achieved a military success in Iran the situation turns to the economic fallout and the hope is diplomacy wins out from here.

“Let’s hope that we will also have some sort of agreement regarding the situation in the Middle East because of course we’re all quite concerned about the economic fallout,” Mitsotakis told Breitbart News. “Of course, we, from the very beginning, said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and as a country in the region we’re always very concerned with the destabilizing effect that Iran had but I think we’ve reached a point where we need to be quite concerned about the economic fallout of this situation.”

Mitsotakis agrees with Trump that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon but now that Trump has achieved a military success in Iran the situation turns to the economic fallout and the hope is diplomacy wins out from here. (Pic courtesy Greek Prime Minister’s Office)

The original ceasefire between the United States and Iran, a two-week cessation of hostilities, expired earlier this week, but Trump announced an indefinite extension of that ceasefire upon that expiration. Talks between the two countries led by Vice President JD Vance in Islamabad, Pakistan, early in the ceasefire did not produce a deal, and Vance did not return to Islamabad as some expected earlier this week to continue those talks. But the hope is that much of the framework that was negotiated between the two sides has them closer to a bigger deal than it looks publicly at this point, and while a deal may remain elusive for some time there is hope worldwide especially here in Greece—the closest major European nation to the Middle East—that stability can return quickly now.

Mitsotakis added that the situation in Iran and with the Strait of Hormuz demonstrates that Europe needs to be much more independent from the rest of the world when it comes to energy production. He noted that Greece is beginning exploration for natural gas in the waters off its coasts for the first time in decades thanks to deals with American companies like Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. Greece, like the rest of Europe, has embraced the push towards renewable energy sources like wind and solar by has also unlike much of the rest of Europe also followed the United States’s lead from Trump in going for drilling and exploration for traditional energy sources like natural gas.

“Of course, this is also a wake-up call for Europe to be much more pragmatic and much more realistic when it comes to our energy transition,” Mitsotakis told Breitbart News. “Again, we have been supporters of both renewables and natural gas so we’ve proven that you can actually do both and that’s why we’ve also pushed ahead with our exploration program. We’ll have our first exploration in recent 40 years by Exxon—and there’s going to be more by Chevron. So we want to keep up with American energy companies, and we’re looking to the U.S. as a reliable supplier of reasonably priced natural gas.”

Mitsotakis also pushed back on the idea that Europe and the United States are drifting further apart because of the Iran war. He argued that it will “eventually” actually bring the two powers even “closer together” than before.

“So I do believe that this crisis should eventually bring the U.S. and Europe closer together,” Mitsotakis told Breitbart News. “In spite of the hiccups and the noise, I still believe that fundamentally the transatlantic alliance—if you look at what’s happening elsewhere, what’s happening in China—still has a lot to deliver, and if this means that it has to be rebalanced by us doing more on defense so be it. It will be the right thing to do. We’ve done it in Greece, but more European countries are doing it as well. So I think we’ve also realized that we need to take more ownership when it comes to our defense spending and we need to also focus on the competitiveness of our industry because in the past we’ve led when it comes to the green transition but the green transition cannot take place at the expense of social cohesion, competitiveness of our industry. and the security of supply.”

As for specifically ties between Greece and the United States, Mitsotakis emphasized that the two countries have never been closer. Trump has spoken warmly about Greece many times over the last year, including in response last year to Breitbart News’s last interview with Mitsotakis but also again at the Greek independence Day celebration at the White House last month. As Breitbart News has reported, the envoys of both countries to each other say the same thing: That the U.S. and Greece are closer than ever. And U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is here at the Delphi Economic Forum as well, confirmed to Breitbart News while watching a live panel that the president is coming to Greece this year and very soon.

Mitsotakis said Trump should expect a very warm reception in Greece, and noted that Greeks are known for their hospitality.

“Well, you certainly going to expect that he’s going to have a good time,” Mitsotakis told Breitbart News when asked what Trump should expect when he comes to visit Greece. “That I can guarantee. But I’ve worked with President Trump. I’m one of the few European leaders who knew him during Trump one. So you know that Greeks very much take pride in our hospitality.”

Mitsotakis also noted the deep historical ties between Greece and the U.S.—the Founding Fathers of the United States turned to ancient Athenian democracy to form the U.S. government and Greece’s fight for independence was inspired by America’s fight a few decades earlier—to note that the ties are strong and only strengthening. He also said Greece’s active role in this region in the Eastern Mediterranean is helping geopolitically advance the interests of western civilization worldwide which helps, of course, push American interests.

“What’s interesting is that this is a year when you’re celebrating 250 years since the Declaration of Independence,” Mitsotakis told Breitbart News. “But we need to look back historically. I mean, the Founding Fathers were inspired by Greek thinkers and our war of independence was inspired by your struggle for freedom. So there’s been a common thread that connects the story of the two countries. I spoke about that when I addressed the joint session of Congress. But this story is again becoming relevant today. So there are very strong ties which of course can be further developed. Greece is a country now that plays a very, very active role in a region that has its own challenges. We have a strategic partnership with Israel, we have very strong ties with all the Arab countries, we are the natural entry point for the IMEC project into Europe. So again, this is not just about the U.S. and Greece as a European country. It’s about a European country that is an ally and a historical ally of the U.S., but that can also play a very active role in a region that should be quite important for U.S. interests.”

On energy exploration, Mitsotakis said that the deals Greece has made with Exxon-Mobil and with Chevron—two top American energy companies—have cleared the way for the projects to proceed beginning early next year.

Greece is a country now that plays a very, very active role in the region, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle. (Pic courtesy Greek Prime Minister’s Office)

“We’ll have a first act of exploration,” Mitsotakis said. “We’ve signed all the contracts. It’s going to take place the first three months of 2027—so this is happening. It’s happening. This is the first exploration in more than 40 years. If it were to be successful, it will be a game changer for Greece and for Europe because Europe will need natural gas for the next decades. So this is important. Chevron being active south of Crete is very important geopolitically, but also from an energy point of view. Of course, the fact that we’re an entry point for U.S. LNG through our infrastructure and we can supply LNG to all our neighbors through the vertical corridor is a very visionary project. It’s a private initiative but we are offering our infrastructure as Greece and there are still some loose ends to tie up in terms of the pricing. But my vision is that this corridor needs to be and could be very competitive. We can offer security of energy to Ukraine. All this means is that the role of Greece is very much strengthened. All this goes beyond the traditional defense agreements that we’ve had with the U.S. I mean, all that is already there—and we’re working on it—but we are looking to expand the portfolio, looking at building big data centers, looking at talking to the big hyper scalers who are already all active in Greece. So I still see a lot of potential in this relationship. We’ve been working on it for a long time, and we’ll continue to do so.”

In addition to all this, Mitsotakis added that the Iran war has the distinct possibility of actually helping a project Greece deeply cares about—the IMEC, or India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, trade corridor—move forward. One of the biggest obstacles for IMEC in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack in Israel has been the soured relations between Arab states in the Gulf and Israel over the situation in Gaza. However, since the Islamic Republic of Iran has fired missiles at the Arab states in the Gulf indiscriminately—it has fired at the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and more—what’s happened is the Gulf states may move closer actually back towards warming relations with Israel. Mitsotakis noted too though that for this to happen the Gaza deal has to proceed and continue to resolve the situation there.

“In order to do that, we also need for the Gaza plan to proceed and eventually we need to address the Palestinian question,” Mitsotakis told Breitbart News. “We’ve been supporters of a two-state solution. We’ve been critical of Israel and we are strategic partners with Israel. We’ve been critical of Israel when it came to Lebanon. We’re happy about the fact that there’s a ceasefire. We’ve offered our services as a mediator or as a place for these countries to meet because we have the trust of the Lebanese, we have the trust of the Palestinians, and the trust of Israelis. So there are not many countries that can actually claim that, we also have the trust of all Arab countries. When it comes to Gaza, we have to move from stage one to stage two and hopefully stage three—and we could play a role.”