The leaders of the Group of Seven countries on Monday issued a joint statement calling for “de-escalation” in Iran and a ceasefire in Gaza, while stressing Israel has the right to defend itself in the escalating Middle East crisis, during the forum’s meeting in Canada.
US President Donald Trump was among the leaders who signed the statement, which marked the first official call from Washington to de-escalate the now-open conflict between Jerusalem and Tehran, as the two archenemies traded strikes for a fifth day.
The G7 forum is made up of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
“We affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself,” the statement read. “We have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
“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,” the statement added.
At the summit, Trump warned that Tehran needs to curb its nuclear program before it’s “too late.” He said Iranian leaders would “like to talk,” but they had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on their nuclear ambitions and failed to do so before the Israeli aerial assault began.
“They have to make a deal,” he said.
Trump also called for the evacuation of Tehran, sparking panic in the country’s largest city amid constant Israeli strikes.
“Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform, without elaborating on the reason that Iran’s capital city of 10 million people needed to be evacuated.
After the leaders issued the joint statement, Trump abruptly left the summit a day early, leading to speculation from French President Emmanuel Macron that he was rushing to get Israel and Iran to agree to a ceasefire that the US had proposed.
“There is an offer that has been made, especially to have a ceasefire and to initiate broader discussions. And I think this is a very good thing,” Macron told reporters. “So now we need to see what the stakeholders will do.”
Trump quickly denied he had left to work on a ceasefire, blaming Macron for the misconception.
“Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire,” Trump wrote on social media.
The president did not say what he was in fact working on, but teased that it was “much bigger than that.”
“Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong,” Trump wrote. “Stay Tuned.”
The conflict between Israel and Iran expanded Friday morning with the IDF’s surprise assault on military and nuclear targets across Iran, as talks between Washington and Tehran to reach a deal to limit the country’s nuclear program stalled.
Since Israel’s attack on its nuclear and military infrastructure, Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, killing 24 civilians.
Meanwhile, the IDF has continued to strike Iran, hitting dozens of military and nuclear targets each day.
According to a Monday report in The Wall Street Journal, Iran has been sending urgent messages to Washington and Jerusalem through Arab intermediaries expressing a desire to end the conflict with Israel and resume nuclear talks with the US.
As Israeli jets operate freely over Tehran and Israel sees limited damage from Iranian counterstrikes, there is not much incentive for Israeli leaders to halt their offensive before further dismantling Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and undermining the ayatollah regime, the report noted.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel is willing to call off its campaign if Iran accepts US demands to dismantle its nuclear program.
Otherwise, “it’ll end when we remove those capacities, and we will,” he said.