France, March 2 -- "The Middle East stands to lose greatly from any drawn-out war," said a joint statement issued after their video link rendez-vous.

"Iran's attacks and violation of sovereignty of a number of countries in the region are inexcusable. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes. We express our solidarity with partners in the region that have been attacked or affected."

Kaja Kallas, the foreign policy chief for the 27-nation bloc, convened the meeting on Saturday night after a day of strikes from Israeli and American air force planes that pounded Iranian targets killing Khamenei and two top military generals.

Before the meeting, the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the American president Donald Trump said...