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Rough seas were a fitting symbol for this week\u2019s meeting of Group of 7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri. Coast Guard ships that ferried V.I.P.s across the Gulf of Naples to the island on Wednesday swayed precariously, leaving the passengers reaching for their motion-sickness medicine \u2014 and, in some cases, their sick bags.<\/p>\n
Though no ministers from this elite international coalition, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, were known to have lost their lunch, the global problems they confronted were enough to make even a seasoned diplomat queasy: the risk of war between Iran and Israel, the nightmare in Gaza and Ukraine\u2019s uncertain fate.<\/p>\n
At the luxurious Grand Hotel Quisisana, Mr. Blinken came determined to project unity within a group that includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union.<\/p>\n
First created to help stabilize the world economy, the G7 has grown more active and ambitious in recent years, seeking to shape geopolitics and to be \u201ca steering committee for the world\u2019s most advanced democracies,\u201d as Mr. Blinken put it in a closing news conference on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Blinken did not quite put it that way, although he did say the group had tried over three days \u201cto de-escalate tensions and to de-escalate any potential conflicts.\u201d The meetings included sessions about Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed over 33,000 people since Hamas\u2019s assault on Israel on Oct. 7, and the Red Sea, where the Houthi militias of Yemen have been attacking cargo ships.<\/p>\n
The G7 threatened to strengthen the Western crackdown on Iran, demanding in a closing communiqu\u00e9 that \u201cIran and its affiliated groups cease their attacks\u201d throughout the Middle East and saying, \u201cWe stand ready to adopt further sanctions or take other measures.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Iran, Mr. Blinken also told reporters that \u201cdegrading its missile and drone capabilities\u201d was a key G7 goal. And a senior U.S. official, who spoke anonymously to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said that joint actions were in store against unnamed Iranian commercial entities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The group also addressed the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, though it was unclear whether it had made any headway toward a cease-fire deal that would allow for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, a goal the G7 called for in its communiqu\u00e9. The U.S. official said that the group had wrestled, in part, with the practical limitations of getting aid into the Palestinian territory and then distributing it across the devastated enclave of Gaza.<\/p>\n
Ukraine was another central topic, and the ministers vowed to find new ways to support its fight against Russia. Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who joined the gathering to make his case in person, practically pleaded with members of the U.S. House of Representatives to deliver for his country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n