Wadephul calls for de-escalation
German Foreign Minister Wadephul is holding crisis talks around the Middle East and Gulf states, where he hopes to see an improvement in the situation.
Berlin (dpa) – The German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is optimistic that efforts at de-escalation between Israel and Iran will soon make progress. “We are confident that we will be able to get to a better situation in the next few days,” Wadephul said yesterday, speaking yesterday to the ARD broadcaster via video link from Qatar on his visit to the Middle East.
However, he also stressed the need to exert pressure on both parties to the conflict, which are attacking each other with missiles and drones. He said he was appealing to those he was meeting in the region to initiate talks with Iran, while Germany did so with Israel. The priority was “to find out where a compromise can be found, where the two sides share a basis for talks,” Wadephul said. “There is a shared expectation that during the coming week, we will have to make a serious attempt to break the spiral of violence on both sides.”
He said he would raise the issue again on Sunday with the Foreign Minister of Oman. His European counterparts would also join in this strategy, he said, and added that German, France and the UK stood ready to restart negotiations with Iran about its nuclear programme.