European leaders call for resumption of US-Iran negotiations

BRUSSELS — Britain, France and Germany called for the resumption of negotiations between the United States and Iran and condemned Iranian attacks on regional countries. They did not comment on the US and Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a statement on Saturday saying their countries did not take part in the strikes on Iran but were in close contact with the United States, Israel and their partners in the region.

The three countries have led efforts to reach a negotiated solution over Iran’s nuclear program.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Iranian attacks on countries in the region. Iran must refrain from any indiscriminate military strikes. We call for the resumption of negotiations and urge Iranian leaders to seek a negotiated solution. Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future,” they said.

European leaders are holding emergency security meetings and scrambling to protect their citizens in the Middle East after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday triggered global concerns about an escalation into a broader conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in response to US and Israeli strikes in Iran.

The responses come after the United States and Israel launched a major attack on targets across Iran, and US President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to “take control of your government” – an extraordinary call that suggests he may seek to end the country’s theocracy after decades of tensions.

The US strikes create a dilemma for their Democratic allies. While European leaders strongly oppose Iran’s nuclear program and repression by its harsh theocracy, they are reluctant to accept unilateral military action from Trump that could violate international law and trigger a broader conflict.

Trump’s strikes on Iran last June and the arrest of Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro last month have provoked a similar dilemma.

It was unclear whether U.S. allies had advance warning of the attacks. The German government said it only received advance notice on Saturday morning. The young French defense minister said France knew something was going to happen, but didn’t know when.

“The ongoing escalation is dangerous for everyone. It must stop,” Macron said in a statement. France, which has a military presence in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, would offer military aid to its Middle Eastern partners, the president said.

“The outbreak of war between the United States, Israel and Iran has serious consequences for international peace and security,” Macron said.

He called on Iranian leaders to engage in negotiations over its nuclear and ballistic programs.

“The Iranian people must also be able to freely build their future. The massacres perpetrated by the Islamic regime disqualify them and require that the people be able to express themselves.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency committee on Saturday morning.

“We do not want to see a further escalation into a wider regional conflict,” a British government spokesperson said, reiterating Britain’s support for a negotiated solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Britain was not involved in the strikes.

The German government’s crisis management team was also due to meet.

Responding to the attack, the European Union’s top diplomat called the Middle East conflict “perilous” and said she was working with Israeli and Arab officials to seek a negotiated peace.

“The Iranian regime has killed thousands of people. Its ballistic missile and nuclear programs, as well as its support for terrorist groups, pose a serious threat to global security,” Kaja Kallas, foreign policy chief of the 27-nation bloc, said in a social media post.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he feared the failure of negotiations between the United States and Iran could mean “another widespread war in the Middle East” would occur.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Madrid rejected “the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order.” He said Spain “also” rejected the actions of the Iranian regime.

European Union leaders issued a joint statement on Saturday calling for restraint and engaging in regional diplomacy in the hope of “guaranteeing nuclear security.”

“We call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, protect civilians and fully respect international law,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has condemned the US and Israeli strikes against Iran in harsher terms.

“These attacks are completely irresponsible and risk further escalation and increasing the danger of nuclear proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons,” said its executive director, Melissa Parke.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has condemned Israeli strikes on Iran and accompanying US military action, warning that the escalating conflict has pushed the Middle East to the “verge of catastrophe”.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday condemned what he called “unjustified attacks” on Iran in a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the strikes a “planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state,” demanding an immediate end to the military campaign and a return to diplomacy.

In a statement posted on Telegram, the ministry accused Washington and Tel Aviv of “hiding behind” concerns about Iran’s nuclear program while pursuing regime change.

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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw. Angela Charlton in Paris, Paolo Santalucia in Rome, Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Elise Morton and Krutika Pathi in London, Jamey Keaton in Geneva, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.