Foreign ministers from the G7 group are meeting near Paris from Thursday, with European nations and allies seeking to narrow differences with the United States on the war in the Middle East.
France, which holds the rotating G7 presidency this year, is hosting two days of talks at the Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey, some 50 km south-west of central Paris.
The meeting comes as US President Donald Trump says he is ready to step up military attacks on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal to end the fighting with the US and Israel.
In his first trip abroad since the war started on 28 February, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will join foreign ministers from France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK – but only on the second day.
Ahead of the meeting, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told news agency AFP one of France's objectives was "to address the major global imbalances which explain in many respects the level of tension and rivalry we are witnessing with very concrete consequences for our fellow citizens".
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Expanded club
With Lebanon pulled into the war via the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah, Barrot also urged Israel not to send in forces to take control of Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon.
"We urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from such ground operations, which would have major humanitarian consequences and would exacerbate the country's already dire situation," Barrot said in an interview with AFP.
His comments came after Israel said its military would take control of south Lebanon up to the Litani River, around 30 km from the border.
In a bid to broaden the scope of the G7 club – whose origins go back to the first G6 summit held in the nearby Chateau de Rambouillet in 1975 – France has also invited foreign ministers from Brazil and India as well as Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
France will also on Monday host a separate G7 meeting bringing together finance ministers, energy ministers and central bank governors, Finance Minister Roland Lescure told French broadcaster RTL on Thursday.
The meeting will address what Lescure described as a "convergence of energy issues, economic issues and inflation issues".
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Gaza, Ukraine overshadowed
While all G7 nations are close US allies, none have unambiguously offered support for the assault on Iran.
Trump has claimed the US is speaking to a "top person" within Iran's clerical system in talks to end the conflict. However, Iranian state TV said on Wednesday Tehran had rejected a peace plan conveyed through Pakistan.
Trump's threat to hit Iranian energy facilities – which he says he is holding back on amid the purported talks – has troubled European allies, who have all called for de-escalation.
The British foreign minister, Yvette Cooper, on Tuesday voiced unease that the war in Iran had shifted focus away from the Gaza peace plan and violence in the occupied West Bank.
More than four years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Barrot told AFP that support for the Ukrainian resistance and pressure on Russia would continue.
(with newswires)
