Conflict and Peace

Leaders of the G7  countries meet in Canada this week, for a summit that is not quite what they had expected, with the Israel-Iran conflict being on everyone’s mind. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan and the European Union will be there, and of course, the president of the United States Donald Trump. Mark Carney, the new Canadian Prime Minister, had planned fo talks in the wilderness retreat of Kananaskis, that avoided rows with Mr Trump. Much of the agenda was non-controversial, about energy security, protecting mineral supply chains, accelerating the digital transition and tackling forest fires. However, Israel's decision to attack Iran will force the Group of Seven western powers to spend less time on other issues and instead discuss ways of managing the conflict. Canadian officials, still bruised by the experience of the last G7 summit that they hosted in 2018, even decided not to have a summit communique to avoid textual disputes dominating the gathering. On that occasion, Mr Trump in his first stint in office stormed out early and, on the plane home, withdrew his support for the summit communique. Instead, world leaders will agree a number of "short, action-oriented statements" that maintain consensus and ignore divisive issues. That now seems also to be overambitious. The G7 leaders, due to arrive in Canada on Sunday, know the global security and economic risks if this conflict escalates, dragging in other countries, sending oil prices soaring. Other leaders are also attending the summit as guests, including from Mexico, India, Australia, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine and Brazil. Many of them have their own problems with Mr Trump.

Iran  has responded to Israeli attacks on Thursday night, firing missiles at targets in Israel, including in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Both side say that civilians got killed in the attacks. Clouds of war are now gathering across the Middle East  and there is fear that this conflict may expand to other players. The Iranian FARS News agency quoted the new commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as saying that Iran would would take Israel to the gates of hell over the latter’s deadly onslaught against Tehran which led to the death of senior military commanders, including the IRGC own commander, Major General Hossein Salami.

On Thursday (12 June), UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg informed the UN Security Council that Yemen’s situation remains delicate and could quickly spiral back into active warfare, despite the Red Sea ceasefire announced on 6 May between the Houthis and the United States.

On Friday (13 June), a series of powerful explosions were heard and seen across Iran, following a large-scale Israeli air campaign targeting the country's military infrastructure. In a prerecorded video released early on Friday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the strikes were aimed at nuclear infrastructure and ballistic missile factories inside Iran. According to Netanyahu, the strikes were necessary to delay what he described as an imminent nuclear threat.

The European Union should harden its stance against Israel and follow in the footsteps of the United Kingdom and other Western allies by issuing sanctions against far-right members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet, Sweden’s foreign minister told Politico. Maria Malmer Stenergard said after meeting in Brussels with Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, that the EU now needs to take a stronger position and increase pressure on the Israeli government.