WASHINGTON — The Group of Seven nations expressed support for Israel in a statement issued late on Monday and labeled its rival Iran as a source of instability in the Middle East, with the G7 leaders urging broader de-escalation of hostilities in the region.
The air war between Iran and Israel – which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes – has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel’s military assault on Gaza in October 2023.
“We affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel,” G7 leaders said in the statement.
“Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror,” the statement added and said the G7 was “clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
Israel attacked Iran on Friday in what it called a preemptive strike to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Since then the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, with Iranian officials reporting over 220 deaths, mostly civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians were killed.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has said it has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said meanwhile that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could face the same fate as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion and eventually hanged after a trial.
“I warn the Iranian dictator against continuing to commit war crimes and fire missiles at Israeli citizens,” Katz told top Israeli military officials. Shortly after, Iran’s state media reported an explosion was heard in Tehran.
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters after his departure from Canada, where he attended the Group of Seven nations summit, predicted Israel would not be easing its attacks on Iran.
“You’re going to find out over the next two days. You’re going to find out. Nobody’s slowed up so far,” he said.
Khamenei has seen his main military and security advisers killed by Israeli air strikes, leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process.
One of those sources, who regularly attends meetings with Khamenei, described the risk of miscalculation to Iran on issues of defense and internal stability as “extremely dangerous.”
Israel’s military said Iran’s military leadership is “on the run” and that it had killed Iran’s wartime chief of staff Ali Shadmani overnight four days into his job after replacing another top commander killed in the strikes.
Khamenei, who was imprisoned before the 1979 revolution and maimed by a bomb attack before becoming leader in 1989, is profoundly committed to maintaining Iran’s Islamic system of government and is deeply mistrustful of the West.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had hit Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate and spy agency Mossad’s operational center early on Tuesday. There was no Israeli confirmation of such attacks.
Israel launched its air war with a surprise attack that has killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran’s military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. It says it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate the campaign in the coming days.
Trump has consistently said the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agreed to U.S. demands that it accept strict curbs on its nuclear program.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that a “more powerful” new wave of missiles was recently launched towards Israel, the state news agency reported. A senior Iranian army commander said a new wave of drones would hit Israel.
Three people were killed and four injured in Iran’s central city of Kashan in an Israeli attack, Iran’s Nournews reported.
