Global governments press diplomacy as US-Israel conflict with Iran strains energy markets

Sunday marks 100 days since the United States and Israel began military action against Iran, a conflict Tehran has described as an "unprovoked act of aggression" and one that has unsettled energy markets and worsened expectations for the world economy.

The fighting has moved beyond Iran, drawing in Gulf states and Lebanon. A tentative ceasefire has existed since April 8, but Israel has continued operations in Lebanon, where more than 3,000 people have been killed. Israel and Lebanon renewed a ceasefire arrangement on Wednesday that had been agreed on April 16, although Tehran has said Israel's continued strikes breach the April 8 ceasefire between Washington and New Delhi.

European allies of the United States avoided condemning the US-Israeli strikes but declined to join the campaign and said they opposed regime change. Gulf governments denounced Iranian attacks on their territories. Russia and China also objected to the war, while countries hit by higher oil costs and volatile markets have pressed for negotiations. Pakistan has emerged as an important mediator.

Gulf states have been directly affected since the war began on February 28, after Iran fired missiles and drones at US military assets based in the region. Several Gulf governments say civilian infrastructure, including airports and energy sites, has also been hit. Sporadic attacks have continued.

Oman, which has been the main facilitator of US-Iran nuclear discussions, criticised the start of the war because those talks were still under way. Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the fighting would not help US interests or global peace. Oman does not host American forces, unlike Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, but it was pulled into the conflict when retaliatory attacks struck US military and energy targets across the Gulf.

Two drones hit Duqm commercial port in Al Wusta governorate on March 1, and a fuel tank there was struck two days later. Salalah port in western Oman was hit by drones at least twice. Two foreign nationals died in a drone strike in Sohar province on March 13. Iran, which maintains friendly relations with Oman, denied responsibility.

In a March 18 article for The Economist, Albusaidi said the United States had "lost control of its own foreign policy" and accused Israel of persuading President Donald Trump's administration to fight Iran. He also called the war a "catastrophe" and a "grave miscalculation". Last month, Trump warned Oman it could face military force if it became involved in the dispute over access to the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping lane Iran has restricted during the conflict.

Qatar strongly criticised Iran at the start of the war for launching missiles at its territory, which hosts US troops at Al Udeid airbase. After an attack on QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas facility at Ras Laffan, Doha expelled several Iranian military and diplomatic personnel. Iranian missiles also damaged a long-range US AN/FPS-132 early-warning radar in Qatar.

Doha has pushed for de-escalation and talks. In a call with Trump, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said political and diplomatic channels should come first so regional security and stability could be protected and further escalation avoided. Trump thanked Qatar for supporting Pakistan's mediation and helping keep communication open among the parties. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator, visited Qatar in May as diplomacy continued.

The UAE's Ministry of Defence condemned Iran's strikes on Emirati territory in the "strongest terms" when the war began, saying air defences had intercepted several attacks. It described the strikes as "a dangerous escalation and a cowardly act that threatens the security and safety of civilians" and said the UAE had the "full right" to respond.

The Wall Street Journal reported on May 29 that the UAE had launched dozens of air strikes on Iran during the war, coordinated with the United States and Israel, which supplied intelligence. Emirati authorities have also tightened measures against Iranians and Iranian businesses in the UAE. Iranian officials have increasingly singled out the UAE in wartime statements and warned of heavier strikes if the US and Israel restart attacks. Among Gulf states, the UAE and Kuwait have suffered the heaviest Iranian attacks so far.

Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, called attacks on its territory "treacherous" when the fighting started. It has used its seat in United Nations Security Council diplomacy to seek resolutions condemning Iran. Last month, Bahrain's effort to pass a resolution opening the Strait of Hormuz was blocked by Chinese and Russian vetoes.

Kuwait's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Iranian attack on its soil a "flagrant violation" of international law and said Kuwait had the right to respond. As the conflict has continued, Iranian drone attacks have repeatedly struck Kuwait, which has warned that further escalation would add to regional instability. Kuwait blamed Iran for drone and missile attacks last week, while Iran said it had targeted US interests there.

Saudi Arabia has condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf Arab states in the "strongest terms" and warned of "dire consequences". Riyadh has also denounced Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a clear violation of international law. Saudi Arabia has been able to ship oil through Red Sea ports, reducing the effect of the Hormuz restrictions. Reuters reported on May 12 that Saudi Arabia had carried out numerous undisclosed strikes on Iran in response to wartime attacks inside the kingdom. Even so, Riyadh has kept diplomatic contact with Tehran, with both foreign ministers speaking regularly by phone.

Iraq, which has had close ties with Iran since Saddam Hussein was removed in the 2003 US-led invasion, condemned the US-Israel strikes on Tehran while trying to keep its own territory from being pulled further into the fighting. Iraq became a front between US forces and the Iran-aligned Popular Mobilisation Forces. Iraqi armed groups struck regional states and US facilities inside Iraq.

US forces targeted PMF headquarters in Baghdad and other Shia factions. In March, Iranian forces carried out an operation against Kurdish groups in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, with intermittent attacks continuing since. Iraq's economy has also been under pressure. In March, the Ministry of Oil declared force majeure on all oilfields developed by foreign firms because disruption in the Strait of Hormuz had halted most crude exports. Iraq has struggled to balance its relationships as tensions rise between Iran, the US and regional allies. A US media report last month said Israel had secretly built two military bases in Iraq.

Turkiye's Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged "all parties" to stop the cycle of violence when the war began, saying the escalation started with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The ministry said the chain of events, beginning with Israel and the US attacking Iran and continuing with Iran targeting third countries, threatened the region's future and global stability.

In May, Turkiye's Ministry of National Defence said a ballistic missile fired from Iran entered Turkish airspace after travelling over Syria and Iraq and was destroyed by NATO air defence systems. Reuters reported that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan conveyed Ankara's protest over the airspace breach to his Iranian counterpart. Fidan visited several Gulf states in Turkiye's push for diplomacy and joined foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan in Islamabad on March 29. Pakistan announced a ceasefire more than a week later.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the war to end. In May, he told Trump he welcomed the extension of a US-Iran ceasefire and believed the disputed issues could be settled. Turkiye has also called for free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Jordan has faced Iranian missiles and drones since the war started. The country hosts US bases, including Muwaffaq Salti airbase, and Iranian strikes have targeted US air defence, satellite communications and other assets there. A radar connected to a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defence system was badly damaged. Jordan has repeatedly urged the combatants to stop fighting and has called on Israel to end its war in Lebanon.

Egypt has voiced deep concern about the war and called for urgent de-escalation through diplomacy. "Nobody can stop the war in our region in the Gulf but you," President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told Trump in March. Egypt has joined regional diplomatic efforts. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke with his Iranian counterpart on Tuesday, and el-Sisi spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shortly before the war began.

The African Union has condemned aggression against Gulf states and called for immediate de-escalation to safeguard international security. As the fighting has dragged on, it has also warned about the effect of rising food and fuel prices across Africa.

Although Africa is among the world's biggest oil-producing regions and holds about 12 percent of global reserves, it imports more than 70 percent of its refined fuel, according to the Africa Finance Corporation. That dependence has exposed many countries, especially those such as Kenya with little or no biocarbon reserves, to market swings during the US-Israel war on Iran. In April, the AFC warned that Africa could face an 86-million-tonne fuel gap by 2040 as demand outpaces domestic production capacity.

In South Asia, India's Ministry of External Affairs initially urged all sides to "exercise restraint" and "avoid escalation". Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel just days before the war began has been described as "ill-timed". New Delhi did not condemn either the US-Israeli war on Tehran or the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri signed a condolence book at the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi.

India has condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf countries, a major source of its oil and home to nearly 10 million Indian expatriates. As the Strait of Hormuz blockade intensified, Iranian attacks hit Indian ships in the waterway, prompting New Delhi to ask Tehran to guarantee safe and unhindered passage for commercial shipping bound for India. The global energy crisis has also hit India. In May, Modi urged citizens to work from home, avoid foreign travel and refrain from buying gold. Iran has also created a significant diplomatic opening with Pakistan, India's main rival.

Pakistan condemned the US-Israel attacks immediately. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar "strongly condemned the unwarranted attacks against Iran and called for an immediate halt to escalation through urgent resumption of diplomacy to achieve a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the crisis". Islamabad has since taken on a central mediation role, encouraging both sides to honour ceasefires and using senior visits to Tehran to seek a settlement.

Pakistan helped secure the April 8 ceasefire between the United States and Iran and has continued to support talks aimed at ending the conflict. It hosted US Vice President JD Vance for talks on April 13, though no agreement was reached.

Bangladesh has expressed concern about the war and called for hostilities to end, while Sri Lanka has sought to stay neutral. Both countries have been hit hard by the conflict's economic effects. In March, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his government rejected a US request to land two American combat aircraft at a civilian airport and stressed that Sri Lanka would not take sides. In early March, Sri Lanka's navy rescued 32 Iranian crew from the frigate IRIS Dena after a US submarine torpedoed it off Sri Lanka's coast, killing at least 84 people. Days later, Colombo evacuated more than 200 crew members from a second Iranian ship, IRIS Bushehr, after it requested help.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called for "an immediate halt to military actions" and a return to "dialogue and negotiations" to preserve regional peace and stability. Beijing said "Iran's national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected". China has since worked more quietly, helping arrange calls and meetings with Gulf officials, and has said it will cooperate with Pakistan to "make positive contributions to the early restoration of peace and stability in the Middle East".

Last month, Araghchi met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. Araghchi said China was a close friend of Iran and that bilateral "cooperation will even become stronger under current circumstances", according to the Iranian Students' News Agency. Wang urged Iran and the US to reopen the Strait of Hormuz "as soon as possible", China's foreign ministry said. The ministry added that "a complete cessation of fighting must be achieved without delay", that renewed hostilities were unacceptable and that negotiations remained essential. In April, China and Russia vetoed Bahrain's Security Council resolution seeking coordinated defensive measures to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

After the US and Israel struck Iran on February 28, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, accused Washington of using nuclear talks with Tehran as a cover for military action. Russia's foreign ministry later called on the international community to quickly and objectively assess what it described as irresponsible actions that could further destabilise the region.

Araghchi visited Russia in April and met President Vladimir Putin, who said Moscow would remain a firm ally of Tehran. "We see how courageously and heroically the Iranian people are fighting for their independence and sovereignty," Putin told him, adding that he hoped Iran would get through a "difficult period" and that peace would prevail. Putin also said Russia would do everything that served Iran's interests and the interests of the region so peace could be reached as soon as possible, according to Russian state media. In April, Russia said it was willing to take Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile under a peace agreement with the US. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had raised the offer with the United States and regional states, that it remained available, but that it had not been taken up.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste, has called for the fighting to stop. In May, ASEAN also raised concern about economic fallout from the war. At a summit in the Philippines that month, leaders agreed on steps to lessen the damage to their economies but acknowledged that the plans would take considerable time. They also agreed to work on a regional power grid and fuel stockpile while reducing dependence on Middle Eastern energy imports. ASEAN's Centre for Energy says the bloc currently gets more than half its crude oil and 17 percent of its natural gas from the Middle East. In late March, the Philippines became the first country to declare a national emergency because of falling energy reserves.

Japan has warned about the economic and geopolitical consequences of the US and Israeli strikes. Its prime minister said interruptions to shipping and energy supplies were having an "enormous impact" across the Asia-Pacific. In May, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz was causing an enormous impact on the Indo-Pacific. On June 1, she spoke with Pezeshkian and urged him to reach an agreement with the United States quickly and ensure the strait remained open to all vessels. Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy, obtains most of its oil from the Middle East.

In Europe, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa said the conflict was "greatly concerning" and urged all sides to show maximum restraint, protect civilians and respect international law. The prime ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement that they "condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms" and remain committed to regional stability and civilian protection. They also called for US-Iran negotiations to resume.

French President Emmanuel Macron separately sought an urgent UN Security Council meeting, warning that the conflict had "serious consequences" for international peace and security. "The current escalation is dangerous for everyone. It must stop," he said.

In April, the UK brought together foreign ministers from 40 countries to discuss ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The United States did not attend because Trump said securing the waterway was not Washington's responsibility. Iran still controls the strait. The UK and European Union have refused to enter the war or use military force to open Hormuz, angering Trump, although Britain has continued allowing US aircraft to refuel and rearm at UK bases.

In the Americas, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada stands with the Iranian people and "reaffirms Israel's right to defend itself and to ensure the security of its people". He said Canada backs the United States "acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon". In March, Carney said he could not rule out Canadian military involvement in the widening Middle East war, after previously saying the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were "inconsistent with international law".

Brazil condemned the US-Israeli strikes on Iran as breaches of international law. It has pushed for diplomatic mediation while dealing with effects on fertiliser imports. Brazil has also been sending crude oil to China and India as part of the response to the global energy crisis.

Mexico has mostly avoided taking a firm position on the US-Iran conflict, focusing instead on issues such as Iran's role in the upcoming football World Cup. In May, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico would host Iran's national football team during the June 11 to July 19 tournament because of tensions with the United States. She said FIFA had asked Mexico to host Iran after the US said it did not want to do so.

The United Nations has warned that the war has moved "out of control" and threatens regional stability. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged diplomacy to prevent an unmitigated catastrophe. Since Trump returned to the US presidency last year, Washington has weakened the UN and the existing rules-based international order. In May, however, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the UN to pressure Iran "to stop blowing up ships, remove the mines and allow humanitarian relief" in the Strait of Hormuz. "If the international community can't rally behind this and solve something so straightforward, then I don't know what the utility of the UN system is," Rubio said.

Chris Featherstone, a political scientist at the University of York, said Trump's failure to state clear objectives for US military action against Iran made it hard for other governments to decide how or when to oppose the campaign. "Trump has previously launched focused, short-term attacks on Iran," he told Al Jazeera. "As such, some nations may have thought that they did not want to oppose Trump's strikes if they were not going to last for long."

Featherstone said opposition abroad has grown as the war has continued. He said that shift was partly because the conflict lasted longer than expected and partly because of how the Trump administration handled it. Other countries became more worried because Washington did not appear clear on how it wanted the conflict to end, he said. The worldwide effects of the Hormuz blockade and what he described as the administration's poor understanding and planning for the global economic impact also deepened concern.

He added that the Trump administration's language became more extreme as the fighting went on. Although the ceasefire has brought some stability despite not being fully observed, he said that stability has been undermined by inaccurate comments from the administration about a possible peace deal. Featherstone said the conflict has raised living costs worldwide and affected the daily lives of millions, if not billions, leaving governments under pressure from their own voters to oppose it.