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G7 leaders on Monday called for “de-escalation” in the Middle East, starting with the Israel-Iran conflict and leading to a Gaza ceasefire, as US President Donald Trump hastily left the group’s summit.
After months of attacking Gaza — flattening homes, targeting hospitals, and starving a besieged population — Israel expanded its assault by launching wide-scale air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, military sites and private residences last week, killing top commanders, scientists and civilians..
Israeli officials have claimed the strikes are part of a broader operation codenamed ‘Rising Lion’ to deter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, which the latter has consistently denied, saying its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.
“We urge that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza,” said the G7 joint statement released by Canada.
The statement said that Israel “has a right to defend itself” and stressed “the importance of the protection of civilians,” as the growing attacks kill civilians on both sides.
The leaders of the club of industrial democracies — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — stated their conviction that Iran “can never have a nuclear weapon”.
Trump told reporters before his decision was announced to leave early due to the Middle East situation: “As soon as I leave here, we’re going to be doing something.”
He later stated that his early departure from the summit had “nothing to do with” working on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, refuting comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said the US president made a ceasefire proposal.
Macron “mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Iran”, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform as he left the moot to return to Washington.
“Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a ceasefire. Much bigger than that,” Trump added in the post.
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