Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is advocating a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that peace talks can only happen after Ukraine essentially surrenders. 

"If we sit in Brussels, we won’t be able to get any closer to peace. Action must be taken," Orban said during a regular interview on Hungarian state radio following his visit. 

Orban turned heads this week when he made back-to-back trips to Kyiv and Moscow just days before a major NATO summit in Washington, D.C., next week. Hungary on Monday started its six-month tenure as the president of the EU, which is a rotating role among all members, and this is Orban's first visit to Ukraine since the invasion started in Feb. 2022. 

European Union Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell rushed out a statement stressing that Orban had no mandate from the union and that he was "not representing the EU in any form." 

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Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described the visit as "disturbing" news, writing on social media platform X that the visit shows "disregard for the duties of the EU presidency and undermines interests of the European Union."

Orban insisted that he had had a "really useful, frank conversation" with Putin about Ukraine, and Putin said that the pair had discussed "possible ways of resolving" the conflict, repeating his demands that Ukraine withdraw all troops from annexed regions. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that Russia had had no idea about the visit until Orban’s camp established contact one day before his arrival. 

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However, Orban admitted that after his two visits, he realized that the "positions are far apart" between Kyiv and Moscow, adding that "the number of steps needed to end the war and bring about peace is many," Euractiv reported.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry stressed that Orban had made the trip "without any agreement or coordination with Ukraine."

Leaders of NATO member states will meet in Washington, D.C., next week to mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary and tackle the issue of how to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, now well into its third year. 

In a pre-summit background call, the White House laid out its goals for the week, including the announcement of new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and military capabilities, all with the intent of ultimately sending a "strong signal" to Putin that NATO will outlast him if needed. 

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"We’re also going to send an important message to the rest of the world, including through our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, as we stand together united and in support of democratic values," a White House spokesperson told reporters. 

But Orban’s trip has angered his allies, drawing backlash from various leaders across the bloc who deemed his visit to Moscow in particular a danger to their position in negotiations with Putin. 

"With such a meeting the Hungarian presidency ends before it has really begun," one EU diplomat told Reuters. "Hungary does not seem to have understood its role. . . . The skepticism of EU member states was unfortunately justified – it's all about promoting Budapest's interests."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X, "Appeasement will not stop Putin," and "only unity and determination will pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine." 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre labeled the visit as "counterproductive" for NATO and argued that the visit "will not advance the cause of peace." 

The Biden administration recently allowed Iranian citizens to vote in the totalitarian regime's sham presidential election from makeshift booths in a handful of U.S. hotels, drawing the ire of the terror-sponsoring nation.

Biden green-lighted Iranian regime voting stations across America for election of the president of the Islamic Republic. The contest on Friday resulted in the victory of Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, over the former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.  Pezeshkian secured secured 53.3% of the vote while Jalili received 44.3%.

Many Iranian observers bitterly complained on X that the mainstream media had falsely framed the election as a vote between the "reformer" Pezeshkian and the "hardliner" Jalili. 

Kaveh Shahrooz, an Iranian-Canadian expert on Iran’s regime, urged a "two-front battle" to debunk the myth that Pezeshkian is a reformer and to unite the Iranian opposition against the regime in Tehran.

"But now, with the selection of a ‘reformist’ president, they will revive their lies about the Iranian regime's capacity for change," wrote Shahrooz.

The largely symbolic presidential position is controlled by the unelected Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on domestic and foreign policies. Khamenei selects who can run for president. Hence, Iranians call it a "selection" and not a real election.

Last Friday’s first round of voting saw the lowest participation since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution established a theocratic state. The Iranian regime’s Interior Ministry said that yesterday’s election produced over 30 million votes. The alleged turnout of 50% in the run-off election was higher than the first round (40%) on June 2, but still low by historical standards. Eyewitness reports and videos showed empty polling stations in Iran.

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Lisa Daftari, a leading Iranian-American expert on the Islamic Republic and editor-in-chief of the Foreign Desk, told Fox News Digital the U.S. should not have facilitated voting.

"The Biden administration's decision to allow the regime to extend its influence onto U.S. soil is deeply troubling," Daftari said. "The Islamic Republic has a history of violence against Americans and continues to hold American citizens hostage. It’s perplexing why any administration would grant access to such a rogue and murderous regime."

Daftari called it "ironic" that Iran appeared to target voters in the United States due to a lack of voter turnout at home.

"Many Iranians refused to legitimize the regime by voting, yet Washington permitted this regime to establish polling stations on American soil," she said. "This decision raises serious questions about past and present foreign policy strategies of the current administration, particularly in emboldening the regime in Iran."

When asked about the criticism of holding elections for the clerical regime on American soil, a U.S. State Department spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel's remarks. 

"In this context foreign governments carrying out election-related activities in the U.S., they need to do so in a manner that is consistent with U.S. law and regulation," Patel said. "We respect the rights of Iranian citizens and the diaspora protesting Iran’s elections or choosing to participate in Iran’s elections. And I will also just note that the Iranians have conducted this kind of activity in the United States before, so this is nothing new, and as have a number of other governments, especially in the time that I have worked here as well."

Patel said the U.S. does not believe the Iranian elections are free or fair, and does not expect them to "lead to a fundamental change in Iran’s direction or lead the Iranian regime to offer more respect for human rights and more dignity for its citizens."

Fox News Digital learned that at a polling location at a hotel in Lynnwood, Washington, on June 28, a security guard allegedly assaulted an Iranian-American who had objected to the election.  

According to the police report obtained by Fox News Digital, a hotel security guard "grabbed her arm and attempted to seize her phone." The police officer reviewed a video of the confrontation and noted he that "did not observe" the security guard issuing the Iranian-American a warning that her phone would be seized before his attempt to take it.

A Lynwood police official said the criminal complaint was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for review.

The Iranian-American woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Fox News Digital she was stunned to learn that the regime was collecting votes just a few miles from her home.

"I left Iran about two decades ago, leaving behind my family, my friends, my hometown, the neighborhood I grew up in, all because I could not live under a regime that told me what to wear, what to say, what to do, what to see and what to unsee … a regime that would kill and torture its own people to suppress any opposing voice," she said. "So when I learned that there will be a voting station for the regime who kills, rapes and tortures my brothers and sisters, in my home state, I was shocked."

Fox News Digital left repeated messages for the hotel manager and the security guard, but none was returned. 

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Fox News Digital confirmed on Friday that the run-off vote had not taken place at the Lynwood hotel, but had been relocated to another Seattle-area hotel.

After Iranian-Americans and Iranian-Canadians showed up at the second hotel to protest on Friday, the manager canceled the vote. 

Iran’s regime announced the polling locations through its representative in the U.S., the Pakistani embassy in Washington D.C. A link is published that lists the voting locations in more than 30 U.S. cities. The information about voting was released on each Friday, ostensibly to prevent organized demonstrations against the Iranian regime election.

Video footage and photographs showed protests against the polling stations in Massachusetts, Arizona, California and Washington.

According to a Voice of America report, voting took place in the first round  at hotels and various other properties in Nebraska, New York, California, Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, Arizona, Chicago, Illinois and Kansas.