{"id":519535,"date":"2026-04-08T12:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/519535\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:53:11","slug":"a-step-back-from-the-brink-european-leaders-welcome-us-iran-ceasefire-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/519535\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A step back from the brink\u2019: European leaders welcome US-Iran ceasefire | Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

European leaders have welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire deal, while calling for the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to hostilities, including in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

The US and Iran<\/a> agreed a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday, including a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after last-minute diplomacy from Pakistan. The Israeli military said on Wednesday, however, that it was continuing \u201cfighting and ground operations\u201d in its war against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, despite a statement from mediator Pakistan that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s president, Emmanuel Macron, welcomed the ceasefire, but called for Lebanon, a former French protectorate, to be included in the deal. He said about 15 countries were mobilised \u201cunder French leadership\u201d to facilitate the resumption of traffic through the strait of Hormuz, where around one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil flows.<\/p>\n

\"JDJD Vance warns Iran to act in good faith in ‘fragile’ ceasefire \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, who has been the most outspoken western critic of Donald Trump\u2019s war in Iran<\/a>, issued a typically blunt reaction, saying his administration \u201cwill not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a post on X he said: \u201cCeasefires are always good news \u2013 especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, welcomed the ceasefire and called for a permanent end to the conflict. The goal now is \u201cto negotiate a durable end to the war in the next days,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThis can only be achieved by diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merz, like his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer, sought to avoid antagonising Trump over the strikes,<\/a> although European allies incurred his wrath<\/a> anyway for refusing to join his war against Iran.<\/p>\n

Starmer, who is travelling to the Gulf on Wednesday, wrote on X: \u201cTogether with our partners we must do all we can to support and sustain this ceasefire, turn it into a lasting agreement and reopen the strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, who is travelling to Saudi Arabia, described the agreement as a \u201cstep back from the brink\u201d after weeks of escalation. \u201cIt creates a much-needed chance to tone down threats, stop missiles, restart shipping, and create space for diplomacy towards a lasting agreement,\u201d she wrote on X, urging the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The European Council president, Ant\u00f3nio Costa, urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire terms \u201cin order to achieve sustainable peace in the region\u201d. Two days ago, the former Portuguese prime minister had warned that any \u201ctargeting of civilian infrastructure, namely energy facilities\u201d, would be \u201cillegal and unacceptable. This applies to Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and it applies everywhere.\u201d While his post did not name Trump, it followed the US president\u2019s threat to obliterate Iran\u2019s power plants and bridges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, described the ceasefire as \u201cwonderful news\u201d for civilians on both sides of the Gulf. \u201cNow we can scale up relief to the millions of refugees and displaced in Iran. But we have only some funding from Scandinavians. How come there are easily billions for war, but no funding for the victims of the war?\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting from Sam Jones in Madrid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European leaders have welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire deal, while calling for the reopening of the strait of Hormuz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-519535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}