The EU's top diplomat has urged the US not to attack Iran, while also pledging to remember "the suffering of the people" in Gaza.
Kaja Kallas told press in Brussels on Tuesday (17 June): "When it comes to the United States getting involved it would definitely drag the region into broader conflict and that is in nobody's interest".
"From my calls with [US] secretary of state [Marco] Rubio, it was also clear it wasn't in the US interest to be dragged into this conflict," she added.
Kallas spoke after her first huddle (via video-conference) with the 27 EU foreign ministers since Friday, when Israel bombed Iran's nuclear facilities, while accusing it of secretly building atomic weapons.
US president Donald Trump has given mixed messages on what he might do next.
And Kallas' EU-27 readout was also softer on Iran than previous Western statements.
Kallas urged "all sides ... [to] avoid actions that could spiral out of control" and for "a diplomatic solution" to the crisis.
"Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb," she said.
But she didn't describe Israel's attack as "self-defence" or accuse Iran of stoking "regional instability," the way G7 leaders did in their summit statement in Canada on Monday.
The G7 countries comprise France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, the UK, and the US.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had backed Israel using the same vocabulary on Sunday.
But some member states' delegations in the Kallas talks called for "an immediate end to all military operations and encouragement for a shift toward diplomatic engagement," an EU diplomat said.
They also "strongly opposed any attacks on nuclear facilities," the EU diplomat added, with Iran saying that its nuclear plants were for civilian purposes.
Kallas had spoken to the Iranian foreign minister, as well as Rubio, and said all "channels were open" in an EU push "to stop the war".
But EU plans to host foreign ministers from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia in Brussels on 23 June to discuss the "Southern Neighbourhood" were likely to be postponed, a second EU diplomat said.
And as the Israel-Iran fighting escalated despite EU appeals, Kallas noted that "one clear outcome [of Tuesday's video-talks] was the coordination we have for our citizens to evacuate them from there [the Middle East]".
"We have member states who have planes, member states who don't have planes - we coordinate efforts," she said.
An evacuation flight with 73 people from Israel, including 29 Slovaks and 44 other EU nationals, landed in Bratislava on Tuesday, while a second rescue flight, with 66 people, landed in Prague, Reuters reported.
Israel has also killed over 55,000 people in Gaza in the past 20 months in its war against Palestinian militants Hamas, including 59 people at an aid checkpoint on Monday.
And while EU ministers didn't discuss Gaza on Tuesday, Kallas pledged that "we will not let our focus on Gaza slip", despite the Iran escalation.
Kallas said her "review" of whether the EU should suspend trade perks with Israel on human rights grounds was "ongoing" and would be ready when foreign ministers met face-to-face in Brussels on 23 June.
"We will not lose sight of what's happening in Gaza, the need to let in humanitarian aid, help people on the ground there, come to a ceasefire, release the [Israeli] hostages, but also stop the suffering of the [Palestinian] people," she said.
And speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg the same day, Jordan's king Abdullah II also highlighted the need for a just end to the Gaza war.
"We must recommit to our values ... because when the world loses its moral bearings, we lose our shared sense of right and wrong – of what is just, and what is cruel. And when that happens, conflict is never far behind," he told MEPs.
Meanwhile, Iran's ally Russia has offered to mediate in peace talks with Israel, but Kallas said this would be unacceptable due to Russia's war against Ukraine, where it killed 16 people on Monday.
"Keep in mind that Iran has also helped Russia in its attacks against Ukraine," she said, after Iran supplied drones to the Russian military.
The EU should redouble efforts to enforce an oil price cap on Russia after the Iran war caused a spike in oil prices, Kallas also said.
"The situation in the Middle East will increase oil prices and make Russia earn more and be able to fund its war machine on an even bigger scale," she said.
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.