Foreign ministers from eight European and regional countries met in Istanbul on Friday for talks on protecting international shipping routes and defusing the conflicts involving Iran, Yemen and Ukraine, in a German-Turkish initiative being held for the first time in this format.

Germany's Foreign Office confirmed that Italy has joined the gathering, expanding it from the seven countries originally announced. The European participants are now Germany, France, Britain and Italy, alongside the regional R4 group of Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called for cooperation beyond established diplomatic formats. "We all feel the impact of attacks on shipping routes, whether at the petrol station or in the supermarket," Wadephul said before the talks, warning that disruptions to fertiliser deliveries could also trigger famine in several parts of the world.

"We will not accept Iran and the Houthi militias holding global trade hostage and continuing to strangle the world's energy and fertiliser supplies," he said. "The indiscriminate attacks on shipping and neighbouring countries must end." Germany's statements are its stated priorities for the meeting, not an agreed eight-country communique — no final agreement had been announced as the talks got under way.

Regional ownership, Hormuz and the Black Sea

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who is hosting the meeting, praised regional cooperation on Friday, saying, "Lasting solutions cannot be imposed from outside," in an address to a mediation conference, AFP reported. Turkish officials said Fidan would stress that regional security requires countries in the region to assume responsibility, and would call for freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb.

The ministers were expected to discuss the Palestinian issue, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, developments in Yemen and efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Turkish diplomatic sources told Reuters ahead of the meeting. Britain said Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband would call for a diplomatic solution that restores full navigational rights through Hormuz, linking the threat there to mounting pressure on Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal.

Around one-fifth of global oil consumption normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz, so any threat to passage there reaches fuel and food prices far beyond the region — including in India and Pakistan, whose ministers and workers are directly tied to Gulf trade and energy.