G7 Urges India-Pakistan Dialogue, US Offers Help on ‘Constructive Talks’

Security personnel cordon off a road near Nur Khan military airbase after Indian strikes in Rawalpindi on May 10, 2025. (AFP)
Security personnel cordon off a road near Nur Khan military airbase after Indian strikes in Rawalpindi on May 10, 2025. (AFP)
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G7 Urges India-Pakistan Dialogue, US Offers Help on ‘Constructive Talks’

Security personnel cordon off a road near Nur Khan military airbase after Indian strikes in Rawalpindi on May 10, 2025. (AFP)
Security personnel cordon off a road near Nur Khan military airbase after Indian strikes in Rawalpindi on May 10, 2025. (AFP)

The Group of Seven (G7) major countries on Friday urged India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue as hostilities rise between the nuclear-armed neighbors, while the US government said it has offered assistance in starting "constructive talks."

World powers have raised the alarm over the latest escalation in the decades-old India-Pakistan rivalry. India hit Pakistan with air strikes and missiles on Wednesday and since then both countries have been clashing daily. Dozens have been killed.

Among the G7 powers, the US has held regular talks with both India and Pakistan in recent days and urged them to de-escalate.

After a call on Friday between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir, the US State Department said Rubio offered US assistance "in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts."

Rubio has also held regular calls with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar since the end of April.

President Donald Trump said earlier this week the rising tensions were a shame. US Vice President JD Vance said a war between the two countries would be "none of our business."

In recent years, India has been seen as an important partner by Western powers as a counter-balance to China's rising influence. Pakistan is a US ally although its importance has diminished since Washington's 2021 withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.

In a statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, Britain and the European Union said they "strongly condemn" an April 22 Islamist militant attack in which 26 people were killed in India-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan, which denied the accusations and called for a neutral probe.

"We call for immediate de-escalation and encourage both countries to engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome," the G7 statement said.

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled only in part by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan. It has been the site of wars, insurgency and diplomatic stand-offs over the decades.

Pakistan said this week that New Delhi and Islamabad have had contacts at the level of their respective national security councils.



Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran will react to any reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, without elaborating on what actions Tehran might take.

A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran under the so-called "snapback mechanism" if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests.

The "snapback mechanism" is a process that would reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran under a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

"The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference, without giving further details.

The 2015 deal with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - states that if the parties cannot resolve accusations of "significant non-performance" by Iran, the "snapback mechanism" process can be triggered by the 15-member UN Security Council.

"The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA," Baghaei said.

"They have failed to fulfill the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism."

Western countries accuse Iran of plotting to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.

The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 under the first administration of President Donald Trump, who called the agreement "weak".

Trump, whose second presidency began in January, has urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations on a new deal after a ceasefire was reached last month that ended a 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that destabilized the Middle East.

When asked if Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would meet with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Baghaei said no date or location had been set for resuming the US-Iran nuclear talks.