March 18 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will host a consultative meeting of foreign ministers from a number of Arab and Islamic countries in Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss ways to support regional security and stability given the Iran war, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said.
A Turkish diplomatic source said separately that representatives from Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates would attend the meeting.
There are scant signs of de-escalation nearly three weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that has engulfed the region and caused unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who intends to visit other countries after Riyadh, will underline the need for a negotiated and peaceful end to the war, which if continued risks lasting damage to ties between regional countries, the diplomatic source said.
NATO-member Turkey, which neighbours Iran, had sought to mediate between Iran and the United States before the war began.
It has condemned U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran as a violation of international law, and also criticised Iran’s attacks on Gulf states as unacceptable.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray, Ahmed Tolba and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Tom Hogue and Barbara Lewis)
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