VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France (AP) — 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.
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’s top diplomat to try to sell the U.S. strategy for the Iran conflict to close allies.
Trump has repeatedly complained that allies have ignored or rejected requests for help confronting Tehran’s retaliation, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most international shipping.
Rubio told reporters in Paris that the United States had not received a formal response from Iran to Trump’s 15-point plan for ending the war.
Trump has said that peace talks are underway and going well, but Iranian officials have said that contacts between the two countries have been minimal and mostly indirect, not yet amounting to real negotiations.
The Pentagon has moved battalions of ground troops to the Middle East recently, spurring speculation about pending operations against Iran, particularly to take control of islands in the Persian Gulf.
But Rubio, speaking after the G7 meeting said, “We can achieve all our objectives without ground troops.”
Iran said Friday it had warned three ships not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a day after Trump extended a U.S. deadline for Tehran to reopen the waterway.
Most of America’s closest allies have greeted the Iran war with deep skepticism, which was on display as the G7 foreign ministers gathered outside of 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.
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 France’s position is through diplomacy, which is “the only one that can guarantee a return to peace,” she said on Europe 1 and CNews.
