UPDATE - US urges France to increase NATO spending for 'Europe's conventional defense'

UPDATES WITH DETAILS, CHANGES IN HEADLINE, DECK AND LEDE

By Diyar Guldogan and Ilayda Cakirtekin

WASHINGTON / ISTANBUL (AA) - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed defense spending, European security, Middle East and Ukraine as he met his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu at the Pentagon in Washington on Thursday.

Lecornu was urged to raise defense spending and "alongside other NATO allies, take primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defense," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

The defense chiefs discussed efforts toward a "durable peace" in Ukraine," he said.

The US has been urging its NATO allies to raise defense spending to 5% of their respective GDPs.

Lecornu, for his part, said they discussed the situation in Middle East and "efforts for stability and security in the region."

This included a "shared commitment" for preserving freedom of maritime navigation in the Red Sea, Iran's nuclear program, support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and the UNIFIL mission in South Lebanon, and the "necessity" to continue counter-terrorism in Syria and Iraq.

They also had discussions on the "defense of Europe," and shared updates on the "progress of negotiations" between the US and Russia as well as European efforts led by France and the UK "to build security arrangements for Ukraine once a ceasefire is achieved."

Hegseth described their meeting as “excellent” on X.

“We discussed the imperative need for Europeans to meet a 5% defense spending commitment to restore deterrence with ready, lethal conventional forces,” he added.