North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump locked hands and smiled in Hanoi Wednesday – the second meeting between the two leaders.

Trump’s team arrived first at the hotel Metropole Hanoi. About 10 minutes later, Kim’s motorcade pulled in. The two leaders met in a room with North Korean and American flags that looked much like the setting of their first meeting in Singapore.

Trump took three questions from the press pool, but answered with brevity. When asked if the pair would reach a peace deal, Trump told the press corps, “We’ll see.”

He reiterated that he and the leader of the reclusive state have a “great relationship,” but when asked if he would be backing down from pursuing complete denuclearization of North Korea, he simply said, “No,” and left it at that.

Kim, through an interpreter, said there had been “a lot of thinking, effort and patience” in the months since their last meeting. “We have been able to overcome all the obstacles and here we are today. I h..

Life in Vietnam’s picturesque capital carried on this week as though the eyes of the world weren’t on it. Even the flags flapping from light posts along its tree-lined streets — Vietnam’s Communist star flanked by the U.S. and North Korea — are understated. Not too showy, just large enough to catch the eye with a spot of color while whizzing past on the back of a motorbike.

Hanoi is focused squarely on impressing two of its most distinguished guests: President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met in the city Wednesday night for the start of their second summit geared toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Nearly five decades after it was targeted by a relentless American bombing campaign, Hanoi is a fitting peace-broker: both a symbol of rapprochement and a model of economic renaissance.

“I think you will have a tremendous future for your country, you’re a great leader,” Trump told Kim in their first meeting since Singapore as the pair posed for photos ..

The Instagram post came at midnight, Tehran time. “I sincerely apologize for the incapacity to continue serving and all the shortcomings during the service,” Iran’s foreign minister wrote in Persian on Monday. “Be happy and proud.” The reasons why were unclear, though he later said he hoped to allow his ministry to reclaim its “proper statutory role.”

The sudden resignation of Mohammad Javad Zarif shocked many, but for Iran watchers like myself, the day had been a long time coming. For months, Iranian state media entertained rumors that Iran’s smiling top diplomat was leaving his post, something hardliners had wanted all along. But then, on Wednesday morning, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani officially rejected the resignation. In a letter to Zarif published in Iranian state media, Rouhani wrote: “I believe accepting your resignation would be against the benefit of the country, so I reject it.”

Though many Iranian officials rallied behind Zarif after his abrupt announcement, hardliner..