Mideast crisis to dominate G7 ministers meeting on Capri
Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani arrives to attend the G7 Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting at the Certosa di San Giacomo on the small island of Capri on 17 April 2024.
Tiziana FABI / AFP
G7 foreign ministers gathered Wednesday for talks on the Italian island of Capri, dominated by the crisis in the Middle East and US-led calls for fresh sanctions against Iran.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is among those attending the meeting of the Group of Seven leading nations, which runs until Friday, just days after Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel.
Germany's Annalena Baerbock and Britain's David Cameron were flying in from Israel, where earlier Wednesday they called for calm amid fears Tel Aviv will retaliate.
Iran's drone and missile attack, launched in response to a deadly strike on Iran's Damascus consulate widely blamed on Israel, has ratcheted up already sky-high tensions with the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza.
Cameron also urged the G7 on Wednesday to adopt new "coordinated sanctions" against Iran, which he accused of being "behind so much of the malign activity in this region".
The G7 nations — France, Germany, Italy, the UK, the United States, Canada and Japan — should give a "clear unequivocal message" to Tehran, Cameron said.
The United States, Israel's top ally, has also vowed to level more sanctions, including targeting Iran's missile and drone programme.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell — also due in Capri — has said Brussels was also working to expand sanctions against Iran, including targeting its supply of drones and other weapons to Russia and to proxy groups around the Middle East.
The G7 ministers will discuss the Middle East situation on Thursday morning, followed by the Huthi attacks in the Red Sea that have disrupted global shipping.
They will then join special guests NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba for talks on the war in Ukraine.
"We want to support the freedom and independence of Kyiv," said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani of Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the G7 this year.
Friday's discussions will focus on tensions in the Indo-Pacific, before Tajani holds a final news conference.
Mauritanian Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, representing the African Union, has also been invited to Capri.
Security is tight on the island, a chic tourist destination located off the Amalfi Coast near Naples, with police locking down the hotel where the meeting will take place.