EU's Kallas warns Middle East against 'further escalation'

The European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Monday that the Middle East "does not need" further military escalation as tensions between Tel Aviv and Tehran flared, urging both parties to return to the negotiation table.

Call for immediate ceasefire

Speaking in Nicosia, the Greek Cypriot Administration, Kallas said the region urgently requires a cessation of hostilities. "The region does not need an escalation, but actually that the parties sit down to a negotiation table and agree," she said, adding that Brussels could facilitate diplomatic efforts once fighting stops. "Ceasefire is very much waited," she noted, calling for an immediate end to the war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Missile exchanges resume

The statement followed Iranian missile barrages toward northern Israel late Sunday, the first such attack since a fragile ceasefire took hold in early April. The strikes came after an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed two people and injured 11 others, with Tel Aviv claiming it targeted a Hezbollah command and planning center.

Diplomatic efforts stall

A temporary ceasefire mediated by Pakistan was reached on April 8, though negotiations have since stalled amid disputes over implementation. Kallas stressed that stopping the war is the immediate priority, noting that only a halt in fighting can create space for talks on contentious issues including Tehran’s nuclear program.

The latest exchanges mark the first major breach of the April 8 truce brokered by Islamabad, which had temporarily halted weeks of cross-border attacks that have disrupted commercial traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.