Foreign Affairs Council: Press remarks by High Representative Josep Borrell after the meeting

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Good evening to everybody,

Thank you for your attention.

I have called this extraordinary meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers in reaction to the developments in the Middle East over the weekend.

You know what I am talking about, I do not have to explain what happened during this weekend. But we need to coordinate our European response.

Our European response to the massive attack with drones and missiles against Israel from Iran, which is unprecedented - in the literal meaning of the word "unprecedented". It has never happened before: a direct attack - an aerial attack - from Iran against Israel.

This certainly represents a major escalation of an already very tense situation in the region.

I want to use the same words that the Secretary-General of the United Nations [Antonio Guterres] used this Sunday, at the extraordinary meeting of the United Nations Security Council: "The region is at the edge of an abyss". Nous sommes en train de nous précipiter dans un abîme. And we have to move away from it. We have to move away from the edge of the abyss.

We are in front of a kind of chess board game. One attacks [the other] one, the other responds, then the other responds. And if at every step of this game, the level of the response is increasing, at the end of the steps, we will be in a full[out] war.

That is what we do not need. The region does not need a full war, embracing the whole region. The world neither. And the people in Gaza neither, because if there is a regional escalation and the whole region is at war, then the war in Gaza will not stop, and the suffering of the people in Gaza will increase.

That is why, today the Ministers took a strong stance asking all actors in the region to move away from the abyss, in order not to fall into it.

This discussion has been taking place in the eve of the special European Council that will take place as of tomorrow, and also on the eve of the G7 meeting [at the] Ministerial level, in which I will take part from tomorrow also.

And then, on Monday, we will have a regular Foreign Affairs Council, in this case a "Jumbo" meeting because we will be together with the Defence Ministers. And [after that] we will have a [High Level ministerial] meeting with our partners of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during which, certainly, we will discuss this topic.

How can I summarise this discussion today? Knowing that it is not a regular meeting, [but] an informal meeting [where we do] not take decisions but give political orientations.

First, as expected, everybody [expressed] a strong condemnation of the Iranian attack. [There is] a strong unity about it.

Also, the Member States reaffirmed their commitment - the commitment of the European Union - to Israel's security.

And third, we remain united in the objective to avoid further escalation and call [on] all actors to show restraint.

After this meeting, we will increase our outreach with key partners in the region, and some Member States proposed to expand the restrictive measures against Iran - adopting an expansion of [existing] restrictive measures against Iran.

I will send to the [European] External Action Service the request to start the necessary work related to these sanctions.

The idea is to expand the existing Iran-Russia related drone [sanctions'] regime. To expand it in two directions.

The direction of the kind of arms, in order to include the possibility of sanctions for providing missiles, not only drones. For the time being, there is no evidence at all that Iran has been supplying missiles to Russia to attack Ukraine, but we could expand this regime in order to include these possibility.

The second one is an expansion of the regional dimension of the framework so that this this regime could be also applied to the deliveries from Iran, to proxies in the Middle East. Not only providing or supplying these arms to Russia, but also to the proxies of Iran in the Middle East.

For that, I mean exactly what I mean: people who are using these kinds of arms from the Lebanon border, in Yemen, in Iraq, in Syria, or wherever.

On that I agree with the Member States, and will task the [European] External Action Service to work with the purpose of discussing it again at the next Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday.

Some Member States asked also for something that has already been done: a sanctions' regime against the ones who provide Iran with the components used for the production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). This already exists.

They are asking for something that already exists. It was approved by the Council in July 2023. Since then, we have a dedicated framework of restrictive measures to prohibit the export from the European Union to Iran of components used in the construction and production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

We can have a look at this regulation, and see what kind of components [it includes] and maybe we can expand [it]. Or we can have the look at the circumvention that this sanctions' regime can be suffering from. But the idea of the sanctions' regime was already adopted last July by the Council.

Some Ministers asked also for sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. And once again, I have to explain that in order to proceed, we need to have a decision by a national authority related with a case of terrorist activities in which the Revolutionary Guards of Iran have been involved. It is not the case for the moment.

So, I answered my colleagues, saying: "This has been discussed and the answer today is the same that it was a month ago: in order to proceed, I need some of you to provide a case in which a national authority has been acting against the Revolutionary Guards for this body being involved in some terrorist activity."

I will ask the legal services of the [European] External Action Service to re-evaluate this, and see if there is any case in which we could base this proposition, but for the time being, we do not have it.

This is about the discussion on expanding sanctions.

Finally, I want to stress the importance that the Council worked today again on the war in Gaza.

Let's not forget Gaza. Let's not forget what is going on there.

Yes, we have to pay a lot of attention to the Iranian attack on Israel, and as we have done, to provide assistance and defence means that have proved very useful in shooting down the missiles and the drones used to attack Israel.

We do not have to forget what is happening in Gaza. Because there will be no regional stability, and [there] will not be a possibility to build enduring peace in the region if the Gaza war continues and, more fundamentally, if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be resolved.

In the G7 Leaders' statement, it was also recalled. It was also referenced. At the G7 Leaders' meeting, they said that. They said that the Gaza war has to be taken into consideration. And for that, we have to work to end the crisis.

Our work has to be focused on the immediate and sustainable ceasefire, working to get an immediate and sustainable ceasefire. I am using the words that the European Council will be discussing from tomorrow. It has to focused, certainly, on the release of the remaining hostages.

It has to be focused on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, because the amount of humanitarian support that is entering has increased, but [it is still] very, very little compared to the needs. And the Ashkelon port that the Israeli government promises to open, is still closed. The entry point from Eretz is still closed. The number of trucks has increased slightly, but the dramatic situation continues.

When people which are amassed in the South have been called to go to the North, well [in] the North, it is impossible for any human being to live there. There is no water, there is no electricity, there is no sewage, there are no houses. There is no nothing. It is like the moon. If they wanted to make Gaza a place where human life is not possible, in the North, they managed to succeed.

I wonder how these people can be moved to the North. Even [if] an agreement can be reached in order to make it possible physically, I do not see how 1.7 million people can be moved to the North where the conditions [to live as] human beings have vanished.

I insist today: we are standing by Israel, in supporting Israel against the Iranian attacks. We will increase and expand the sanctions regime that we have been using with respect to Russia, to the proxies of Iran in the Middle East.

But we should not forget the situation in Gaza, and we have to continue working for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire, the freedom of the hostages, and support to avoid this catastrophic humanitarian situation.

Q&A

Q. Je voudrais savoir quel est le message du Conseil à l'adresse d'Israël en rapport avec la guerre à Gaza. Et aussi, quel est le message du Conseil concernant la situation au Liban où il y a sérieusement des risques d'extension du conflit, avec des conséquences illimitées tant pour l'Etat libanais que pour la population libanaise ou les réfugiés qui sont installés là-bas ?

Sí, y para los más de cien mil israelíes que han tenido que abandonar sus casas en el norte ante los bombardeos que se suceden en la frontera. Unos bombardeos de un lado y del otro, que son los más intensos registrados desde el año 2006. Aquí hay víctimas por los dos lados. Pero el Consejo de hoy, de hoy estaba dedicado a cómo prevenir la escalada en la región. Y la única forma, la forma más inmediata de prevenir la escalada es evitar que el siguiente peldaño en la escalera, the following step in the ladder, no llegue con un incremento de la respuesta bélica. Si cada vez que hay un step in the ladder, un escalón más en la escalera, se incrementa la intensidad a la respuesta militar, al final acabaremos con una guerra regional. Que puede que nadie quiera, pero que entre todos la consigan. Repito, no quisiera exagerar, pero en Oriente Medio estamos al borde de un precipicio muy profundo. Hoy, los Estados miembro han estado de acuerdo en utilizar todos nuestros medios diplomáticos para evitar que la siguiente movida, la siguiente decisión, la siguiente acción en el tablero de juego no conduzca a una mayor tensión, provocando una mayor respuesta. Yo ataco, tu atacas. Yo ataco, tu atacas y [si] cada vez lo hacemos más intensamente al final acabaremos con una guerra regional. Y eso es lo que se trata de impedir. Y se trata de impedir también que afecte al Líbano, claro. Si hay una guerra regional afectará al Líbano y ya sabemos lo que ha pasado en anteriores ocasiones.

Q. When there were discussions of Western alliance support for Israel during this weekend's attack, was the request of Ukrainian President [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] to support Ukraine the same way discussed today? I mean to shoot the drones and missiles. What is your personal opinion on that, if you have it?

No es la primera vez que me hacen esta pregunta, tiene una pregunta con fundamento. Si yo estuviera en lugar del Presidente Zelenskyy, desde luego aprovecharía la ocasión para recordar que Ucrania también está siendo bombardeada y de una manera quizá más efectiva. Porque hace dos días, Rusia destruyó la más importante central eléctrica que suministraba electricidad a Kyiv y Ucrania no pudo evitarlo por falta de municiones. [Por falta] de municiones antiaéreas - no estoy hablando ya de los 155 milímetros de artillería de tierra, sino municiones de defensa antiaérea. Estamos trabajando, yo en particular y todos los ministros, para conseguir aumentar la capacidad de defensa aérea de Ucrania. El lunes, en el Consejo con los ministros de defensa, espero que pueda haber compromisos firmes y concretos al respecto. Pero hay cosas que no se pueden comparar. Israel tiene un iron dome, una cúpula de acero que protege su espacio aéreo que se ha tardado años y años en construir y que tiene un coste muy elevado. Aunque tuviéramos el dinero en la caja, no podría construirse en una noche. En segundo lugar, los ataques de Irán sobrevolado bases aéreas de los ejércitos de Francia, de Estados Unidos, del Reino Unido y de Jordania. Han pasado por encima de sus bases, que han actuado en defensa propria también. Tal cosa no ocurre en Ucrania. No hay bases aéreas de Reino Unido o de Estados Unidos, y mucho menos de Jordania claro, en territorio ucraniano o en un territorio [en] que los misiles rusos sobrevuelan. Por lo tanto, la misma respuesta no se puede dar porque las circunstancias no son las mismas. Pero dicho esto: desde luego, hay que acelerar y reforzar la entrega de defensa antiaérea a Ucrania. Sin duda. Y [por] eso espero que el lunes podamos poner sobre la mesa decisiones concretas por parte de los Estados miembros que son los que lo pueden hacer. Hemos estado trabajando toda la semana para conseguirlo.

Q. I just wanted to understand exactly, Mr Borrell, what you were saying earlier on. You were talking about providing defense means to shut down the drones and the missiles. What does it mean? Did the European Union participate in any way in intercepting or in preventing - I don't know - with the intelligence or any other way, the Iranian attack Saturday night?

La Unión Europea no tiene medios aéreos. Usted sabe que no somos un Estado, no tenemos un ejército. Lo que somos es un grupo de países que sí los tiene. Y algunos países - creo que he citado a dos de ellos, Reino Unido y Francia - han estado contribuyendo con sus capacidades militares desplegadas en la zona, a interceptar los ataques de Irán contra Israel. Desde ese punto de vista puedo decir que la Unión, o los Estados miembro de la Unión que tienen capacidades para hacerlo, lo ha hecho. Lo han hecho, y he citado cuáles y cómo. Hemos participado, cómo no, en la información que los servicios de inteligencia tenían, disponían sobre la inminencia del ataque. Estábamos prevenidos, como tantos otros. Eso ha permitido movilizar las capacidades militares - insisto, no de la Unión, sino de algunos de los Estados miembros que estaban disponibles en la zona y que han participado activamente en eliminar lo que este ataque representaba para Israel.

Link to the video:https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-255947

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