By John Irish, Jarrett Renshaw and Andreas Rinke KANANASKIS, Alberta (Reuters) -Group of Seven leaders faced early challenges during meetings in Canada on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump said removing Russia from the former Group of Eight over a decade ago had been a mistake.

Russia was once in the exclusive club of major economies but was kicked out following its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Trump has long said he would like to see the G7 return to a G8 format, bringing Moscow back into the fold as it was before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. “This was a big mistake. You wouldn’t have that war,

By Dominique Vidalon and Stine Jacobsen PARIS/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Greenland to offer his support to the Arctic island, said on Sunday that Russia lacked the credibility to mediate the crisis between Israel and Iran as U.

Trump told ABC News that Iran wanted to make a deal and indicated something like the Israel strikes would accelerate that. "Something like this had to happen because I think even

President Trump took questions from reporters during the G7 summit in Canada. Mr. Trump commented on reports of Iran looking to de-escalate the conflict with Israel, and talked about Russia exiting the G8.