Condemning Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile strikes on Israel in response to the attack on its consulate earlier this month, the leaders of the G7 countries said the Islamic nation has further ‘stepped up’ the destabilisation of the region, CNN reported, citing a joint statement released on Sunday after a virtual meeting.
“We express our full solidarity and support to Israel and its people and reaffirm our commitment towards its security,” read the statement, adding, “With its actions, Iran has further stepped toward the destabilisation of the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation. This must be avoided.”
According to report, the G7 leaders vowed to continue working towards stabilising the situation and avoiding further escalation. “In this spirit, we demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilising initiatives,” the statement read further.
The meeting was chaired by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
President of the European Union Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also shared the details of the G7 meeting on her official X handle, posting, “Today, we, the G7 Leaders, condemned Iran’s unprecedented attack against Israel in the strongest terms. We express our solidarity and support to the people of Israel. And reaffirm our commitment towards its security. We’ll continue to work to stabilise the situation.”
Earlier, on Saturday (April 13), marking a significant escalation of tensions in West Asia amid the raging conflict between the Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza, Iran unleashed a barrage of projectiles towards Israel in payback for the attack on its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
In its first direct attack on Israel on Saturday night, Israel launched more than 300 drones and missiles from its territory towards the Jewish state, triggering air raid sirens throughout Israel on Sunday morning as the country’s advanced air defence intercepted and disabled the projectiles that came its way, the Times of Israel reported.
Notably, Iran and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq launched more than 300 projectiles at Israel on Saturday night, including dozens of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.
(With inputs from ANI)
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