European leaders struggle with response to Israel-Iran conflict
As the war between Israel and Iran continues to escalate, European leaders have been caught off guard and are grappling with how to respond.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sent fighter jets to the region, but he has not indicated whether the Royal Air Force will participate in any joint effort to defend Israel against Iranian missile strikes. Britain's foreign office has also warned its citizens against travelling to Israel.
'We are moving assets to the region, including jets, and that is for contingency support in the region,' Mr. Starmer told reporters while en route to the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., which starts Sunday.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Sunday that France has not mobilized its forces 'at this stage.' And German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul offered to facilitate talks with Iran over its nuclear program, even though Europe has been cut out of the latest round of negotiations, which have been led by the United States.
'Germany together with France and Britain are ready. We're offering Iran immediate negotiations about the nuclear program,' Mr. Wadephul said during a visit to Oman on Sunday.
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The Europeans have been quick to back Israel's right to self-defence and warn against Iran's nuclear capabilities, but their calls for restraint and diplomacy don't appear to carry much weight anymore.
Europe no longer has much of a role in talks aimed at curtailing Iran's nuclear program, and Israel did not seek support from Britain or France when its military launched its strikes on Iran on Friday. That contrasts with last October when British, French and U.S. fighter jets shot down missiles fired at Israel by Iran.
Israel and Iran kept up their bombing raids on Sunday for the third day, and their leaders exchanged more bellicose rhetoric. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of attacks that Iran 'cannot even imagine,' and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian threatened a 'more painful' response if Israel continued to attack.
Israeli officials said their military had struck dozens of additional targets including oil depots as well as the head offices of Iran's Defence Ministry, police department and nuclear program. Iran's Health Ministry has said that 128 people have been killed and around 900 wounded, most of them civilians.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state television Sunday that the country's defence was 'entirely legitimate.' He also warned that British, French and U.S. bases would be targeted if they helped defend Israel.
Mr. Starmer, U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron have each insisted that their militaries have not been involved in Israel's attacks.
Mr. Trump has also warned that 'if we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.'
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Iranian missiles have killed at least 10 people in Israel, including six who died after their apartment building in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, was hit. Among the victims were two children.
Complicating Europe's response to the crisis is the deterioration in relations between Britain, France, Germany and Israel over the war in Gaza. The three European countries, and the European Union, have been highly critical of Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the lack of humanitarian aid. The British government recently sanctioned two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers and suspended negotiations on a trade deal with Israel.
Mr. Macron said Friday that while he supported Israel's security, 'these attacks must not distract us from the need to establish a ceasefire' in Gaza. Mr. Wadephul, the German Foreign Minister, also highlighted the war in Gaza on Sunday, saying the humanitarian situation was unacceptable.
Mr. Netanyahu has criticized the European position and accused France and Britain of emboldening Hamas. In an apparent sign of his displeasure, media reports suggest that he did not give the European leaders prior notice of Israel's plan to attack Iran, unlike Mr. Trump, who said he'd been briefed.
Ellie Geranmayeh, a senior policy fellow at the Berlin-based European Council on Foreign Relations, said that despite the bad blood, Europe could still help to prevent an escalation in the conflict.
In an analysis released over the weekend, Ms. Geranmayeh said there was uncertainty over Iran's ability to sustain a counter-response given the weakened state of its military and the depletion of its allies in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria. Nonetheless, European leaders should condemn Israel's aggression and work with the U.S. and states in the Gulf region to prevent a wider conflict, she added.
The series of attacks should also 'trigger intense engagement' by Europe in talks to control Iran's nuclear program.
Britain, France and Germany were deeply involved in negotiations in 2015 that led to a deal with Iran. Mr. Trump scrapped that agreement in 2018 and he has tried to reach a new arrangement through direct talks with Tehran.
Ms. Geranmayeh said that 'rather than retreating from diplomacy,' Israel's attack should trigger an intense re-engagement by Europe in order to 'offer a viable political and economic pathway that would provide the conditions for a revived nuclear deal.'
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CTV News
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- CTV News
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Iran turns metro stations, mosques into bomb shelters Claiming to operate almost freely in the skies over Iran, Israel said its attacks Sunday hit Iran's Defense Ministry, missile launch sites and factories producing air defense components. Iran also acknowledged Israel had killed three more of its top generals, including Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, the Revolutionary Guard intelligence chief. But Israeli strikes have increasingly extended beyond Iranian military installations to hit government buildings including the Foreign Ministry and several energy facilities, Iranian authorities said, most recently sparking huge fires at the Shahran oil depot north of Tehran and a fuel tank south of the city. Those new targets Sunday, coming after Israel attacked Iran's South Pars, the world's largest natural gas field, raised the prospect of a broader assault on Iran's heavily sanctioned energy industry that remains vital to the global economy and markets. Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh and other Iranian diplomats shared photos of the Foreign Ministry's offices and library laid to waste by flying shrapnel. Iran's state TV broadcast footage of a dust-covered man carrying a baby away from the ruins of a residential building and a woman covered in blood making panicked phone call from the site of an Israeli missile strike in downtown Tehran. The spokesperson for Iran's Health Ministry, Hossein Kermanpour, said 90% of the 224 people killed were civilians. The Washington-based rights advocacy group, called Human Rights Activists, reported a far higher death toll in Iran from Israeli strikes, saying the attacks have killed at least 406 people and wounded another 654. Iran routinely has undercounted casualties in recent crises, such as the 2022 mass demonstrations over mandatory hijab laws after the death of Mahsa Amini. State TV reported that metro stations and mosques would be made converted into bomb shelters beginning Sunday night. Tehran residents told of long lines at gas stations and cars backed up for hours as families fled the city. Traffic police closed a number of roads outside the city to control congestion. Energy officials on state TV sought to reassure the jittery public there was no gasoline shortage despite the long lines. Iranian state-linked media acknowledged explosions and fires stemming from an attack on an Iranian refueling aircraft in Mashhad deep in the country's northeast. Israel described the attack on Mashhad as the farthest strike it has carried out in Iranian territory. The death toll rises in Israel Air raid sirens sounded across Jerusalem and major Israeli cities, sending Israelis scrambling to bomb shelters in the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv and the northern port city of Haifa. The Israeli military reported that almost two dozen Iranian missiles had slipped through the vaunted Iron Dome aerial defense system and struck residential areas. Early Sunday, Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service reported that at least six people, including a 10-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, were killed when a missile smashed into a high-rise apartment in Bat Yam, a coastal city south of Tel Aviv. Daniel Hadad, a local police commander, said 180 people were wounded and seven missing in Bat Yam. Residents appeared dazed, staggering through the rubble of their homes to retrieve personal belongings while rescuers sifted through twisted metal and shattered glass in their search for more bodies. Another four people, including a 13-year-old, were killed and 24 wounded when a missile struck a building in the Arab town of Tamra in northern Israel, emergency authorities said, while a strike on the central city of Rehovot wounded 42 people. The Weizmann Institute of Science, a center for military and other research also in Rehovot, reported 'a number of hits to buildings on the campus' and said no one was harmed. An oil refinery was damaged in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, the firm operating it said. Israel's main international airport and airspace was closed for a third day. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said if Israeli strikes on Iran stop, then 'our responses will also stop.' Netanyahu says conflict could result in regime change in Iran Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brushed off urgent calls by world leaders to de-escalate. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he said regime change in Iran 'could certainly be the result' of the conflict. He also claimed, without providing evidence, that Israeli intelligence indicated Iran intended to give nuclear weapons to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Iran has always said its nuclear program was peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that it has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003. But Iran has enriched ever-larger stockpiles of uranium to near weapons-grade levels in recent years and was believed to have the capacity to develop multiple weapons within months if it chose to do so. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive nuclear talks, said Washington remained committed to the negotiations and hoped the Iranians would return to the table. The region is already on edge as Israel seeks to annihilate the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where war still rages after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. `Many months' to repair nuclear facilities In Iran, satellite photos analyzed by AP show extensive damage at Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. The images captured Saturday by Planet Labs PBC show multiple buildings damaged or destroyed. The structures hit include buildings identified by experts as supplying power to the facility. U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that the above-ground section of the Natanz facility was destroyed. The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to be hit, but the loss of power could have damaged infrastructure there, he said. Israel also struck a nuclear research facility in Isfahan. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said four 'critical buildings' were damaged, including an uranium-conversion facility. The IAEA said there was no sign of increased radiation at Natanz or Isfahan. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity Sunday in line with official procedures, said it would take 'many months, maybe more' to restore the two sites. Jon Gambrell, Natalie Melzer and Tia Goldenberg, The Associated Press Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel, and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Sam Mednick and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Israel-Iran conflict looms large as leaders arrive for G7 summit in Alberta
Members of the media speak near a G7 sign outside the media centre for the G7 Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025 in Banff, Alberta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA — An escalating conflict between Israel and Iran seems set to dominate this week's G7 leaders' summit in Alberta as members of Canada's Jewish and Iranian communities fear for those caught in the violence. Prime Minister Mark Carney was scheduled to arrive Sunday in Kananaskis, Alta., to host U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders in his first major summit. Earlier in the day, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the growing conflict in the Middle East will be a 'centrepiece' of the meeting, which will formally kick off on Monday. 'This provides the opportunity to talk to our co-leaders about the fast-moving situation and to make our strong case together that there must be de-escalation of this conflict in the interests of the region and the world,' he told reporters in Ottawa ahead of a meeting with Carney on Parliament Hill. Carney on Friday called for Israel and Iran to exercise 'maximum restraint' and move toward a diplomatic solution. The two Middle Eastern countries exchanged missile attacks for a third consecutive day on Sunday, with Israel warning that worse is to come. Israel launched the attacks on Iran Friday amid simmering tensions over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. Hamed Esmaeilion, a Canadian Iranian human rights activist, said it's been 'a very suspenseful 48 hours' for his family and friends living in Iran, including his parents and brother. He said his family members don't live in Tehran, but friends living in the capital city are under severe stress. 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'It would be like shooting a ballistic missile into downtown Toronto and Vancouver, whereas Israel is strategically targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure and its weapons production and the leadership of their military,' he said. Carney is slated to meet with Trump on Monday morning at the summit in Alberta. Moskovitz said it's critical for both leaders to talk about the conflict in the Middle East. 'I think it's incumbent upon the leaders of the West to stand up for their values and to defend their people against the existential threat that a nuclear Iran poses,' he said. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is also calling on world leaders at the G7 summit to 'reaffirm Israel's right to defend itself -- and to act decisively against the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.' In a statement on Sunday evening, Global Affairs Canada said the government is 'closely monitoring the rapidly evolving tensions between Israel and Iran and urges all parties to prioritize de-escalation and the protection of civilians.' 'Canada condemns Iran's attack on Israel and urges restraint on both sides. Further actions can cause devastating consequences for the broader region,' the statement said. The death toll grew Sunday as Israel targeted Iran's Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran's nuclear program, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defences and slammed into buildings deep inside Israel. In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service. The country's main international airport and airspace remained closed for a third day. In a social media post on Sunday, Trump issued a stark warning to Iran against retaliating on U.S. targets in the Middle East while also predicting Israel and Iran would 'soon' make a deal to end their escalating conflict. Meanwhile, Trump has rejected a plan presented by Israel to the U.S. to kill Khamenei, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The official was not authorized to comment on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Canadians in the region are being warned there have been reports of military debris falling in 'various locations' along with the strikes, and the government urged Canadians to follow the advice of local authorities. Canada has launched a dedicated crisis response website and is advising Canadians to avoid all travel to Israel and Iran, and to avoid non-essential travel to Jordan. It's urging a high degree of caution for travel to Qatar. -- By Maura Forrest in Montreal, with files from the Associated Press and Nono Shen in Vancouver. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2025.
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Macron rejects Trump's plan for Greenland, proposal to let Putin mediate Israel-Iran crisis
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