CAPRI, Italy (AFP) — G7 foreign ministers were set to debate fresh sanctions against Iran as they gathered Wednesday on the Italian island of Capri for talks dominated by the crisis in the Middle East.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was among those attending the meeting of the Group of Seven leading nations, just days after Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel.
The meeting runs until Friday.
The United States, Israel's top ally, has said it would soon impose new sanctions on Iran's missile and drone program and said it expects allies to follow with parallel measures.
"We will address the topic of sanctions on Iran, what kind of sanctions," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the host of the Capri talks, said at the formal opening.
The G7 nations — France, Germany, Italy, the U.K., the United States, Canada and Japan — are expected to call for individual sanctions against people implicated in Iran's missile supply chain, according to an Italian diplomatic source.
Iran's drone and missile attack, launched in response to a deadly strike on Iran's Damascus consulate widely blamed on Israel, has ratcheted up already sky-high tensions with the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza.
Germany's Annalena Baerbock and Britain's David Cameron visited Israel earlier Wednesday, where they called for calm amid fears Israel will retaliate.
Cameron urged the G7 on Wednesday to adopt new "coordinated sanctions" against Iran, which he accused of being "behind so much of the malign activity in this region."
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell — who was also invited to Capri — has said Brussels too is working to expand sanctions against Iran, including targeting its deliveries of drones and other weapons to Russia and to proxy groups around the Middle East.
The G7 ministers will discuss the Middle East situation on Thursday morning, followed by a session on the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea that have disrupted global shipping.
They will then join special guests NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba for talks on the war in Ukraine.
The Italian diplomatic source, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G7 this year, said the aim was to accelerate the delivery of air defense systems to Kyiv.
Friday's discussions will focus on tensions in the Indo-Pacific, before Tajani holds a final news conference.
Italian police deployed a heavy security presence on Capri, a chic tourist destination located off the Amalfi Coast near Naples
Blinken, who arrived on an Italian coast guard boat, has a number of bilateral meetings planned including with Tajani and Kuleba.
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Agence France-Presse
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