VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France (AP) \u2014 Top diplomats from the Group of Seven countries showed divisions with the United States over the Iran war but agreed Friday during a meeting in France to call for an immediate halt to attacks against civilians and urge the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined his G7 counterparts a day after President Donald Trump lobbed his latest round of insults at other NATO countries, making it even more difficult for America\u2019s top diplomat to try to sell the U.S. strategy for the Iran conflict<\/a> to close allies. Trump has repeatedly complained that allies have ignored or rejected requests for help confronting Tehran\u2019s retaliation, including its chokehold on the waterway that has disrupted oil shipments<\/a> and pushed up energy prices.<\/p>\n Rubio struck a softer tone, saying the U.S. would seek international cooperation on a plan to keep the strait open after hostilities end. Trump, as part of an evolving rhetorical approach<\/a>, warned as recently as last week that the U.S. would \u201cobliterate\u201d Iran\u2019s power plants if the waterway were not reopened within 48 hours, though he has extended that deadline until April 6.<\/p>\n Rubio emerged from discussions with fellow diplomats with a longer-term message about the conclusion of the war, when he said the U.S. and allies will face a challenge in keeping the strait open. He cautioned that Iran may seek to set up a toll on the waterway \u2014 where 20% of the world\u2019s oil typically passes \u2014 an act that he said could cause significant economic damage to many nations around the globe.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only is this illegal, it\u2019s unacceptable. It\u2019s dangerous to the world,\u201d Rubio told reporters of the possibility that Iran would seek to restrict traffic through the strait. \u201cAnd it\u2019s important that the world have a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n France says the Iran war \u2018is not ours\u2019 as allies call for diplomacy<\/p>\n Most of America\u2019s closest allies have greeted the Iran war with deep skepticism<\/a>, which was on display as the G7 foreign ministers gathered at a historic 12th century abbey in Vaux-de-Cernay, outside Paris, even as they urged a diplomatic solution. Four weeks into the war that the U.S. and Israel launched, the allies face concerns about instability in the oil markets and uncertainty over potential negotiations to end the crisis.<\/p>\n Several EU countries, now grappling with economic consequences of the war, have said they were not consulted by the U.S. before it launched its military actions in Iran. French Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin said Friday that the war \u201cis not ours,\u201d adding that France\u2019s position is strictly defensive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe aim is truly this diplomatic approach, which is the only one that can guarantee a return to peace,\u201d she said on Europe 1 and CNews.<\/p>\n British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Britain also favored a diplomatic path, acknowledging differences with the United States. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have taken the approach of supporting defensive action, but also we\u2019ve taken a different approach on the offensive action that has taken place as part of this conflict,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he made \u201cour position clear, namely that there is certainly a readiness on Germany\u2019s part to play a role after the end of hostilities when it comes to ensuring the security of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n He said his interest is \u201cto broaden what we have as a common basis\u201d regarding the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Rubio seemed to play down the potential for a widening conflict, saying the U.S. was capable of achieving its objectives without ground troops.<\/p>\n G7 diplomats agree to call for halt to attacks on civilians<\/p>\n French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said after the meeting that the group adopted a declaration calling for the \u201cimmediate cessation\u201d of attacks against civilian populations and infrastructure during the Iran war.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing justifies deliberately targeting civilians during armed conflicts, nor carrying out attacks against diplomatic facilities,\u201d Barrot told reporters, saying the declaration \u201calso reaffirms the absolute necessity of permanently restoring free and safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n Echoing Wadephul\u2019s comments, Barrot said that once U.S. military objectives have been achieved, escort missions could \u201cprovide the necessary security so that ship traffic can resume as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can clearly see that with each passing day, the situation is worsening due to the lack of ship traffic from the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Barrot added that Rubio, like others in the discussions, \u201cwants that once the United States\u2019 military objectives have been achieved, maritime security and freedom of navigation can be ensured in the Strait of Hormuz, as in all international waters around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s criticism of NATO allies makes Iran war a harder sell for Rubio<\/p>\n Trump has complained that other NATO countries were not stepping up to help<\/a> against Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very disappointed with NATO because NATO has done absolutely nothing,\u201d Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday.<\/p>\n Of the G7 nations \u2014 besides the U.S. \u2014 Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy are members of the trans-Atlantic military alliance. Japan is the only one that is not.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re there to protect NATO, to protect them from Russia. But they\u2019re not there to protect us,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n Rubio, however, said the U.S. is \u201cnot asking for anybody to join the war\u201d against Iran but that the countries most affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz \u201cshould be willing to do something about it, and we\u2019ll help them\u201d after the conflict ends.<\/p>\n Europeans concerned about Iran war\u2019s impact on Ukraine<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine also was a major topic at the G7 meeting, with U.S.-brokered talks persisting but making no breakthroughs and allies concerned that the new conflict in the Middle East will divert U.S. attention from a commitment to Ukraine.<\/p>\n Wadephul, the German foreign minister, said he made clear at the meeting that \u201cthere must be no cuts when it comes to maintaining Ukraine\u2019s defense capability.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rubio said<\/a> that while no U.S. weapons have been pulled from sales bound for Ukraine<\/a> to go to the Middle East instead, it could happen if deemed necessary.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Petrequin reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, John Leicester in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France (AP) \u2014 Top diplomats from the Group of Seven countries showed divisions with the United States…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[352,195,5,349,337,83,350,50,261,309,343,342,338,344,341,348,346,340,345,339,351,90,347],"class_list":{"0":"post-319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-catherine-vautrin","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-france-government","12":"tag-g7-summit","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-international-agreements","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-iran-government","17":"tag-iran-war","18":"tag-jean-noel-barrot","19":"tag-johann-wadephul","20":"tag-marco-rubio","21":"tag-military-and-defense","22":"tag-nato","23":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","24":"tag-politics","25":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","26":"tag-u-s-news","27":"tag-war-and-unrest","28":"tag-washington-news","29":"tag-world-news","30":"tag-yvette-cooper"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}