G7 statement expresses support for Israel, calls Iran source of instability
European Council President Antonio Costa, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose for a family photo during the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Amber Bracken
WASHINGTON - The Group of Seven nations expressed support for Israel and labeled its rival Iran as a source of instability in the Middle East, in a statement issued late on Monday that called for peace and stability in the region.
The air war between Iran and Israel — which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes — has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel's military assault on Gaza in October 2023. —Reuters
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7 hours ago
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G7 statement expresses support for Israel, calls Iran source of instability
European Council President Antonio Costa, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose for a family photo during the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Amber Bracken WASHINGTON - The Group of Seven nations expressed support for Israel and labeled its rival Iran as a source of instability in the Middle East, in a statement issued late on Monday that called for peace and stability in the region. The air war between Iran and Israel — which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes — has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel's military assault on Gaza in October 2023. —Reuters
GMA Network
8 hours ago
- GMA Network
Pentagon chief says Trump still aiming for deal with Iran
U.S. and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, April 24, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Monday that President Donald Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran even as hostilities have escalated between US ally Israel and Tehran, while a White House aide said separately that Washington was not attacking Iran. "Of course," Hegseth said on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" show when asked if Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran. "We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that's what happens here," Hegseth said. In a social media post on Monday, Trump said "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran," citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development. Israel attacked Iran on Friday and since then the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, with Iranian officials reporting over 220 deaths, mostly civilians, in five days while Israel said 24 civilians had been killed. Israel says it aims to eliminate what it calls threats posed by Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that. The air war between Iran and Israel has raised further alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel's military assault on Gaza in October 2023. Washington has thus far maintained it is not involved in Israeli attacks on Iran and warned Tehran not to attack US interests or personnel in the region. "We're vigilant, we're prepared, and we have messaged ... consistently from the beginning that we're in the region to defend our people and our assets," Hegseth said on Fox News. White House aide Alex Pfeiffer took to social media platform X to deny online claims that the US was attacking Iran. "This is not true. American forces are maintaining their defensive posture, and that has not changed," Pfeiffer said. —Reuters
GMA Network
10 hours ago
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Iranian state broadcaster hit as Iran urges Trump to make Israel halt war
A view of the cityscape in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 16, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS TEL AVIV/DUBAI - An Israeli strike hit Iran's state broadcaster on Monday while the head of the UN nuclear watchdog indicated extensive damage to Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant and Iran called on the US to force a ceasefire in the aerial war. Late on Monday, Israel said it hit Iran's broadcasting authority, and footage showed a newsreader hurrying from her seat as a blast struck. Israel's military said the building also served as a communications center used by Iran's armed forces. The conflict entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with air raid sirens sounding in Tel Aviv shortly after midnight as Iran launched additional missiles toward Israel. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told four European counterparts that Iran was serious about diplomacy but its current focus was on confronting aggression, Iranian state media reported. Israel has said its goal is to eliminate Tehran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed, most of them civilians. Israel says 24 people have been killed, all of them civilians. Sources told Reuters that Tehran had asked Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to press US President Donald Trump to use his influence on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an immediate ceasefire. In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, said the two Iranian and three regional sources. "If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential," Araqchi said on X. "Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu." Asked if he would agree to talks should Trump want that, Netanyahu told reporters that Israel was committed to removing the threats of both nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. "If this can be achieved in another way – fine. But we gave it a 60-day chance," Netanyahu said. Speaking to Reuters on Friday, the first day of Israel's assault, Trump said he had given the Iranians 60 days to come to an agreement to halt uranium enrichment and that the time had expired with no deal. Talks between the United States and Iran, hosted by Oman, had been scheduled for Sunday but were scrapped, with Tehran saying it could not negotiate while under attack. Iranian media said Iran was preparing for the "largest and most intense missile attack" yet against Israel, including against military and intelligence targets. Natanz damage Israel launched its air war with a surprise attack that killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. It says it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate the campaign in coming days. Israel said it hit Iranian F-14 fighter planes at Tehran airport on Monday, and its airstrikes have also put at least two of Iran's three operating uranium enrichment plants out of action. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the BBC on Monday it was very likely all the roughly 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran's biggest uranium enrichment plant at Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike. There had been very limited or no damage at the separate Fordow plant, he said. Tehran for the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict fired missiles from Iran that pierced Israeli defenses in significant numbers and killed Israelis in their homes. Round-the-clock television images showed Israeli rescuers working in ruins of flattened homes. Almost 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes since Iranian strikes began, leaving 24 buildings slated for demolition, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told reporters. Iranian state TV broadcast scenes of collapsed presidential buildings, burned-out cars, and shattered streets in Tehran. Many residents were trying to flee the capital, describing queues for petrol and bank machines that were out of cash. "I am desperate. My two children are scared and cannot sleep at night because of the sound of air defense and attacks, explosions. But we have nowhere to go. We hid under our dining table," Gholamreza Mohammadi, 48, a civil servant, told Reuters by phone from Tehran. Trump has consistently said the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agrees to US demands that it accept strict curbs to its nuclear program. "As I've been saying, I think a deal will be signed, or something will happen, but a deal will be signed, and I think Iran is foolish not to sign," Trump told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada. "I think Iran is basically at the negotiating table," he said without elaborating. On Monday, Iranian lawmakers floated the idea of quitting the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, a move bound to be seen as a setback for any negotiations. Iran has always said its nuclear program is peaceful, although the IAEA declared last week that Tehran was in violation of its obligations. 'Paying the price' Before dawn on Monday, Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing at least eight people and destroying homes. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel's multi-layered defense systems to target each other so missiles could get through. Israel's Haifa-based Bazan energy group said its power station had been significantly damaged in an attack that killed three employees and forced its refinery facilities to shut down. Oil prices slipped $1 per barrel on Monday in volatile trading after reports that Iran is seeking an end to hostilities, raising the possibility of a truce and easing fears of a disruption to regional crude supplies. The sudden killing of so many Iranian military commanders and the apparent loss of control of airspace could prove to be the biggest test of Iran's system of clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. —Reuters
