Sawt Falasteen - G7 allies press Rubio on US Iran plans

Having skipped the first day of the meeting at the historic monastery turned luxury hotel complex outside Paris, Rubio arrived at the Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey for a full day of talks with counterparts from leading industrialised democracies.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said ahead of the talks that allies needed to know "how the US will proceed" in the conflict which began with the air strikes on February 28 that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

US President Donald Trump had repeatedly declared talks are in progress with Iran but details remain murky.

"Our colleague Rubio can today perhaps explain this more precisely," Wadephul told Deutschlandfunk radio, calling on allies to come to a "joint position" with the US.

Trump on Thursday pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran's energy assets to April 6 in the latest twist in Washington's plans.

While all G7 nations are close US allies, none have unambiguously offered support for the assault on Iran, angering Trump.

- 'For the world' -

The UK's foreign minister Yvette Cooper on Friday urged a "swift resolution to this conflict that restores regional stability".

She echoed concerns over the ongoing de-facto blockade by Iran of the key Strait of Hormuz which has driven up global oil prices and left vessels queueing up to enter the energy bottleneck.

"Frankly, Iran cannot be able to just hold the global economy hostage as a result of a Strait which is about international shipping routes and the freedom of navigation," she said.

Before leaving for France, Rubio said Thursday that it was in the "interest" of all G7 nations to push for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

On talks with Iran, he said "there are intermediary countries that are passing messages, and progress has been made."

It is Rubio's first trip abroad since the United States and Israel launched the war.

Defending the war, he said: "The president is not just doing a favour to the United States and to our people. This is for the world."

- 'Did not give in to any pressure' -

In contrast to usual protocol, and in a sign of the distance between the United States and its allies, there is to be no joint communique at the end of the meeting.

Instead, the G7 presidency, which France holds this year, will issue a statement, a diplomatic source said, asking not to be named.

With Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in attendance, European ministers are keen to emphasise support for Kyiv must not be forgotten over four years after Russia's full-scale invasion.

France is eager to broaden the scope of the elite G7 club -- whose origins go back to the first G6 summit held in the nearby Chateau de Rambouillet in 1975 -- and which now comprises Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, UK and United States.

It has invited foreign ministers from key emerging markets Brazil and India, as well as Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

The event is leading up to a G7 summit in the French Alpine lakeside resort of Evian in June to be chaired by President Emmanuel Macron.

The South African presidency Thursday alleged Washington urged Paris to disinvite President Cyril Ramaphosa from that summit. But French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Kenya -- rather than South Africa -- had been invited and "we did not give in to any pressure".

D.Khalil--SF-PST