VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France (AP) \u2014 Top diplomats from the Group of Seven countries showed divisions over the Iran war but agreed to call for an immediate halt to attacks against civilian populations and infrastructure after meeting Friday in France.<\/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 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 the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most international shipping. <\/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 G7 diplomats agree to call for halt to attacks on civilians<\/p>\n French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said after the meeting that they 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 countries makes Iran war a harder sell for Rubio<\/p>\n Trump has complained that NATO countries were not stepping up to help<\/a> against Iran and that they and other allies have rejected his calls to take a role in securing the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, where Iran\u2019s chokehold has disrupted oil shipments<\/a> and pushed up energy prices.<\/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 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 Rubio said in a post on X with a photo of him meeting with other G7 diplomats that he \u201creiterated that President Trump is committed to reaching a ceasefire and negotiated settlement to the Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Rubio, who chatted briefly with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, also still has work to do to smooth things over with allies like those in Europe that have faced criticism or outright threats<\/a> from Trump and others in his Republican administration. <\/p>\n The Europeans are still smarting over Trump\u2019s earlier demands to take over Greenland<\/a> from NATO ally Denmark and are concerned about U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia<\/a>. The conflict in the Middle East has added another point of tension.<\/p>\n \u201cFrankly, I think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit, should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that\u2019s willing to confront a threat like this,\u201d Rubio said Thursday.<\/p>\n G7 host France has been skeptical of the Iran war<\/p>\n France hosted the G7 meeting near Versailles and has been highly skeptical of the war. Besides Vautrin\u2019s comments on Friday, the chief of the French defense staff, Gen. Fabien Mandon, complained this week that U.S. allies had not been informed about the start of hostilities.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have just decided to intervene in the Near and Middle East without notifying us,\u201d Mandon said, lamenting that the U.S. \u201cis less and less predictable and doesn\u2019t even bother to inform us when it decides to engage in military operations.\u201d<\/p>\n However, 35 countries joined military talks hosted by Mandon on how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> \u201conce the intensity of hostilities has sufficiently decreased,\u201d France\u2019s Defense Ministry said.<\/p>\n France has bases in the region and has bolstered its military presence in the Middle East since the start of the war, dispatching an aircraft carrier<\/a> and other warships<\/a>.<\/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 over the Iran war…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[61997,5293,32,2000,299,182872,36,16831,32954,4179,8614,774,83163,13302,29135,2820,839,8617,2821,56247,285,7661,74677,7143,7660,10673,263,5113],"class_list":["post-854207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-catherine-vautrin","tag-diplomacy","tag-donald-trump","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-fabien-mandon","tag-france","tag-france-government","tag-g7-summit","tag-general-news","tag-international-agreements","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-jean-noel-barrot","tag-johann-wadephul","tag-marco-rubio","tag-middle-east","tag-military-and-defense","tag-nato","tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organization","tag-politics","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-u-s-news","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news","tag-yvette-cooper"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116302134103317407","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}