European leaders have welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire deal while calling for the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to hostilities, including in Lebanon.
The US and Iran agreed a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday, including a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after last-minute diplomacy from Pakistan. The Israeli military said on Wednesday it was continuing “fighting and ground operations” in its war against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, despite a statement from Pakistan that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire.
In a joint statement, 10 leaders, including those of Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain, welcomed the ceasefire and urged “quick progress towards a substantive negotiated settlement”, which they said would be “crucial to protect the civilian population of Iran”, ensure security in the region, and “can avert a severe global energy crisis”.
The statement called on all sides to implement the ceasefire, including in Lebanon. It was also signed by the heads of government of Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands and the leaders of the European Council and European Commission.
Earlier, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, welcomed the ceasefire but called for Lebanon, a former French protectorate, to be included in the deal. He said about 15 countries were mobilised “under French leadership” to facilitate the resumption of traffic through the strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil usually flows.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has been the most outspoken western critic of Donald Trump’s war in Iran, issued a typically blunt reaction, saying his administration “will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket”.
In a post on X, he said: “Ceasefires are always good news – especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost.”
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, welcomed the ceasefire and called for a permanent end to the conflict. The goal now was “to negotiate a durable end to the war in the next days”, he said in a statement. “This can only be achieved by diplomacy.”
Merz, like his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer, sought to avoid antagonising Trump over the strikes, although European allies incurred Trump’s wrath anyway for refusing to join his war.
Starmer, who is travelling to the Gulf on Wednesday, wrote on X: “Together with our partners we must do all we can to support and sustain this ceasefire, turn it into a lasting agreement and reopen the strait of Hormuz.”
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, who is travelling to Saudi Arabia, described the agreement as a “step back from the brink” after weeks of escalation. “It creates a much-needed chance to tone down threats, stop missiles, restart shipping and create space for diplomacy towards a lasting agreement,” she wrote on X, urging the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.
The European Council president, António Costa, urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire terms “in order to achieve sustainable peace in the region”. Two days ago, the former Portuguese prime minister had warned that any “targeting of civilian infrastructure, namely energy facilities”, would be “illegal and unacceptable. This applies to Russia’s war in Ukraine and it applies everywhere.” While his post did not name Trump, it followed the US president’s threat to obliterate Iran’s power plants and bridges.
The secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, described the ceasefire as “wonderful news” for civilians on both sides of the Gulf. “Now we can scale up relief to the millions of refugees and displaced in Iran. But we have only some funding from Scandinavians. How come there are easily billions for war but no funding for the victims of the war?” he wrote on X.
Additional reporting from Sam Jones in Madrid
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
