Eight nations in Istanbul urge diplomacy, not Iran strike

Foreign ministers from eight countries met in Istanbul on Oct. 23 and called for diplomacy rather than a new attack on Iran, as shipping attacks around the Strait of Hormuz continued and U.S. President Donald Trump weighed his options.

The meeting brought together the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt, a bloc known as the R4, with counterparts from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. Neither the United States nor Iran took part, Al Jazeera reported.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the host, said none of the participants supports another military intervention in Iran. “Military intervention in Iran is by no means a solution. No one supports this at the moment,” Fidan said, according to The Express Tribune.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said further escalation “would create nothing but losers” and urged both sides to “exercise the utmost restraint,” Al Jazeera reported. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the aim was de-escalation to guarantee freedom of navigation. “I do not believe the problem can be solved from a purely military standpoint,” he said.

The talks were the first session of an expanded format that adds the E3 (the U.K., France and Germany) and Italy to the R4 group, which was set up this year, Daily Sabah reported. Fidan described the format as “informal and flexible.” The ministers agreed to keep consulting, and later met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In a separate joint statement, the four R4 ministers backed the Islamabad memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, signed in June, and said the conflict must be addressed “only through dialogue and diplomacy,” the Express Tribune reported. They called for the “swift and full resumption of safe, secure and unimpeded passage” through Hormuz and rejected restrictions on lawful navigation, warning that disruption threatens energy, food and fertilizer supplies.

The statement also condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and on Red Sea shipping, voiced solidarity with Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognized government, and described Israeli occupation as a fundamental source of regional instability. It reiterated support for a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel has not responded in the reports reviewed by Canada News Media.

The diplomacy comes against a darker backdrop. Speaking to supporters in Florida on Friday, Trump said the U.S. military “may do another Epic Fury,” a reference to the opening bombing campaign of the war, according to Al Jazeera. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye, said strikes on Iran could “absolutely” happen this weekend but that Trump is “open and available and accessible to a deal.”

Iran’s chief of general staff, Ali Abdollahi, said the U.S. Navy cannot re-enter Iranian waters because Iran can target any vessel in the region. “The US president can only dream of their soldiers and military again entering the Persian Gulf,” he said. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said seven tankers were attacked or hit mines overnight into Thursday and that two supertankers hit mines on Friday. Al Jazeera reported that Brent crude rose to about US$117 a barrel, its highest since April. Those claims could not be independently confirmed by Canada News Media.

The war began with a surprise U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28, Al Jazeera said. Fighting has since spread to Lebanon and Yemen, where Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia have been trading strikes.

For Canadians, the Gulf crisis is already reaching fuel prices and travel plans. Global Affairs Canada, in an advisory updated Oct. 22, tells Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia and to avoid all travel to the Riyadh and Dammam airports because military activity is disrupting operations. It also warns against all travel within 30 kilometres of the Yemen border. Canada News Media has reported on oil prices near US$116 and on the tanker attacks in Hormuz.

Israel votes on Oct. 27, days before the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 3, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a lockdown of the West Bank after an attack in Hebron that killed two soldiers. Canada News Media covered that closure on Oct. 23. Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia have also forced the postponement of an EU-Gulf summit that had been planned for Riyadh, as Canada News Media reported earlier this month.

Mediated U.S.-Iran talks are not closer to a result, Al Jazeera reported. The next moves to watch are any U.S. decision on strikes over the weekend, Israel’s vote on Oct. 27 and further Hormuz shipping incidents.

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Via Al Jazeera, Daily Sabah and The Express Tribune.