Foreign ministers from eight countries — Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy — met in Istanbul on Friday for the first collective meeting in the R4+E3 format and agreed that a renewed attack on Iran would expand the war, Reuters reported. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a press conference after the meeting that diplomacy and dialogue were the only way to end the war.

Source: Reuters

"We are all in agreement that a new attack on Iran would expand the war in the region," Fidan said, according to Reuters. "A military intervention on Iran is not in any way a solution. Nobody approves this at the moment," he added. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said renewed escalation between Iran and the United States would only have losers and would raise oil prices, Reuters reported.

Anadolu Agency reporting, carried by Europe Says, gave the same account of Fidan's warning and said the ministers also discussed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Russia-Ukraine war. A separate summary of the meeting, drawing on Al Jazeera, the Guardian and Al Monitor, said the ministers called for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and agreed to meet regularly.

Source: Anadolu Agency via Europe Says

Reuters said the comments followed a New York Times report that the US and Israeli militaries had drawn up plans for possible renewed strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections, with energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities and missile and drone sites among likely targets — a report the ministers did not confirm. President Donald Trump said earlier this month the US would not attack Iran before the midterms, and on Friday said the US could end the war quickly but questioned whether it should seek a swift conclusion.

For lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers in the Gulf, the warning matters directly: a wider war would threaten jobs, flights, oil supplies and remittances, and push energy prices still higher.