Live updates: Follow the latest news on US-Iran war
European foreign ministers from the Group of Seven countries held talks on Thursday near Paris with Indian, Saudi, Brazilian and South Korean counterparts in an effort to resolve the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
"We have global partners here today to have a unified message that we need an exit, not an escalation in this war," the EU's foreign affairs minister Kaja Kallas said as she arrived at the two-day summit in Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey, south-west of the French capital.
"That means there has to be a diplomatic solution so that this region will come out of it stronger and actually more peaceful."
Pakistan is mediating US-Iran talks in a bid to end the war started on January 28 by US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
In its response to US President Donald Trump's 15 -point plan, Iranian state media said Tehran has demanded full sovereignty of the Hormuz Strait, a passageway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil travelled daily before the war.
Iran has brought traffic to a halt by attacking ships, causing oil prices to soar around the world and creating fears of shortages of products such as fertilisers and helium.
'Paper tiger'
Mr Trump on Thursday reiterated criticism against Nato for failing to support the US in its war effort against Iran, particularly in re-opening Hormuz. “Nato is a paper tiger …. [we] will come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours,” he said. “Never forget, never forget.”
In Vaux-de-Cernay, Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Nato countries would seek a common position with the US on the war against Iran, which he added would have to end as quickly as possible.
"Of course, it is now important, together with our closest allies within Nato, particularly with the United States, to develop a common position," Mr Wadephul said.
There was unity with France and Britain on this, and planned talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday were particularly important, Mr Wadephul added.
He said the Strait of Hormuz would have to be opened and the Iran's leadership must not pose a threat to other nations.
Mr Rubio was absent from the first day of talks and is scheduled to land in France overnight. He is expected to discuss Iran over lunch on Friday with G7 counterparts from France, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK.
Meanwhile, the G7 host, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, has focused on the strait of Hormuz in talks with his Indian and Saudi counterparts, his office said.
Speaking to Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Mr Barrot "repeated France’s readiness, when conditions allow and with its partners, to help guarantee freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which must be restored."
With Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Mr Barrot also spoke about the Middle East. India is among the handful of "friendly nations" designated by Iran as allowed to use the strait alongside Pakistan, China and Russia.
Mr Jaishankar and Mr Barrot "agreed to continue their close co-ordination with the aim of working jointly to ensure the Strait of Hormuz is safe," the French Foreign Minister's office said.
