Blinken says G7 is "committed to de-escalating tensions" and holding Iran to account

 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the G7 countries were "committed to de-escalating" tensions between Israel and Iran, CNN reports.

"We’re committed to Israel’s security. We’re also committed to de-escalating -- to trying to bring this tension to a close," Blinken said during a news conference at the conclusion of the group's meeting in Capri, Italy, hours after a US official told CNN that Israel had launched a military strike on Iran.

He also said the countries shared "a commitment to hold Iran to account."

Blinken said the nations condemned Iran's strikes on Israel on April 13. He called those attacks "unprecedented in scope and scale; scope because it was a direct attack on Israel from Iran, scale because it involved more than 300 munitions including ballistic missiles."

Blinken reminded that the US government announced more sanctions on Tehran on April 18. He said that G7’s focus in the region is de-escalation and avoiding a larger conflict, and called on all sides concerned to show restraint.

Blinken repeated the US was “not involved” in Iran strikes.

According to sources of several US news outlets, Israel has carried out a military strike on Iran. Iranian officials said the three drones shot down by the air defense systems over Isfahan were fired from the territory of Iran. Israel has not commented and Iran has not identified the source of the attack.

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