With the Iran war and the closure of the straight of Hormuz inflicting economic pain on the global economy, Lithuania has joined more than 50 countries, pledging a multinational force to ensure its access and security in the future. Plus, as NATO allies prepare for a summit in Anchora this summer, there are big questions for the alliance going forward. I sat down with the Lithuanian foreign minister at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum to get his thoughts on all of that. I'm Victoria Innis and this is oneonone foreign minister, thank you so much for joining me. I need to ask you first and foremost, do you think that Europe should have joined those initial strikes by the US and Israel on Iran?

Well, what concerns the overall efforts because it didn't start with the strikes, it start with the diplomatic efforts to have the agreement uh and to avoid those threats in the future coming from Iran. So of course we had to play looking now back as Europe bigger role in those diplomatic engagements. That's first. Then when the engagements fail uh then when the military operation took place we were not asked as Europeans European nations to uh to participate in it and of course it would be it would take time in coordinating the thing and to putting it under certain uh framework international framework and of course putting it within the international law but you did say that the initial

response by European countries was too emotional and that there should be more support when an ally is asking for help. Did you not? Yeah. When we saw that when the uh when the initial strikes happened and when Iran attacked in this brutal way against its neighbors with no reason at all that it was absolutely uh absolute violation of international law. We condemn it from the very first minute and then afterwards when we see what are the consequences and what are the economic effects, political effects, regional effects overall for the instability. Of course, it was also for us to step up and contribute to the solution

of this situation and that was the mistake of some of the nations just to claim that oh it's not our business. Oh, it's we didn't start it. It means that we can stand somewhere aside and just watch what will happen. This is not the way how allies help each other and then support each other even if situations are difficult. But now we have a situation where it seems like things are moving between deescalation and escalation every single day. And ultimately in this conflict, Russia is benefiting and this is something that you stand firmly for example with Ukraine in support for them against Russia. So how do you balance that? This is a conflict which you support in its premise but it is helping your perhaps biggest

adversary at the moment. It has multiple results and multiple effects what is happening right now. Uh of course Russia is benefiting from the increased oil prices and increases its revenues to it budget and this is how it increases the uh income for its war machine and war economy. That is obvious but it's not the only one. There is the other side of this issue. Iran being one of the assistance and one of the enablers of Russia's aggression. We saw it from the very beginning and this is what their comprehensive partnership looks like supplying Russia with drones and the models of these drones we found even in Lithuania when they copied them and you know send

them against the targets in Ukraine and they uh dered into other directions. So we are directly affected by Iran's and Russian cooperation and that is why we were strong supporter and initiator of some of the sanctions against Iran just to stop the them uh assisting Russia in an aggression against Ukraine. So now of course it is interlin as the crisis are interlin everywhere in the world. Of course, it diverts the attention of international community because this limited the attention as attention in the of the media is also limited diverts it to the other regions and this is additional reason for us to seek for the faster solution and for the faster results what concerns Iranian programs that threaten the world. This

is nuclear, this is proxies, this is missiles and this is overall approach to its neighbors you know denying the existence of some of them. So it is in our interest to contribute also to solving the crisis one by one and to concentrate on the major one for the Europe security and where this is clear where the Europe's future security will be defined that will be both on the battlefield and on negotiation table what concerns the future of the uh settlement of aggression against Ukraine. So it is everything inter uh additional factor that is also important for us all is to keep us engaged in solving these conflicts. So we saw that for more than one year new US administration of President Trump was so heavily involved

into finding the solution in aggression against Ukraine. Now they are engaged militarily and all other ways and in the in Iran and overall in the Middle East. So we have to you know combine our efforts and coordinate in purpose to you know finally solve it one by one. But do you believe that the US has Lithuania and other allies best interests at heart because for example Iran had said just yesterday it was lifting restrictions on the straight of Hormuz but the US refused to lift its blockade. We also have reports that the US is exerting pressure on Lithuania to lift restrictions on fertilizer coming out of Bellarus for example. So it leads me to believe that they don't have your best interests at heart in this

situation because otherwise they would have lifted that blockade allowed that traffic to resume through the straight at Hormuz and stop the economic pain being inflicted on citizens around the world. So it is the process that's why we need we need coordination and we have to talk and to see how it will be solved tomorrow day after tomorrow and for the good. So naturally we have the we have our own national interest because I start my day from Lithuania's national interest not from the others because this is where I am and why what my position you know requires and same with United States sometimes it you know it combines sometimes it differs when it differs we are not fighting publicly we just go and

talk because we are allies and this is how allies behave so you mentioned Beleros yes we have different views on certain things and I will keep you know my position also strong and my interest what concerns the uh free navigation and what concerns the free movement of gas oil and fertilizers uh from Gulf of course it's our joint interest and how best to organize it and I'll remind everyone that EU was already involved through different common security and defense policy missions already in the region securing the free navigation because we had different type of threats we had the pirates we had the Yemen Houthis and then we have other sort of the threats. So it will be also our interest and our responsibility to take more

burden and we have to do it in concert with United States. We cannot go you know we cannot go with the increased attention because we shouldn't forget that we have our security and fundamental interest behind all of it or you know on which we stand and in these in protecting these within NATO transatlantic bond is the absolute you know absolute maxima and this is absolutely fundament why we cannot apply same principles and same policies to everyone. But is it not difficult when every day you have the US president taking aim at the NATO alliance? I mean he did it again yesterday. He took aim again at NATO yesterday. So yes, the transatlantic bond may be there. But it is it not increasingly difficult for countries to tow that line when every

day you have the US president taking aim at the alliance. This job is not difficult. is difficult meaning that you cannot expect that it will be easy uh cuz the situation is difficult. We are you know so much influenced by the strategic environment where we are right now. The world is complicated. Remember how the world looked like during the H summit and now after one year just before the Ankara summit how we look right now it's worse. So it's getting complicated. But the good news is that uh that during this year we managed to solve all the tensions in one way or another and everything looked like okay this time this is a real crisis we still managed to find the solution be the Arctic security with the Arctic sentry

operation coming from NATO uh or be the you know sort of the tensions right now I'm sure that we will find solution be the coalition of the willing that want to contribute to uh to solving the free navigation problem or any anything else. If we remind ourselves that we are allies that we have to be united, it decreases the tension a bit or just to remind you also there's some tensions about the tariffs. We also found this found the solution. So looking you know into the future as h summit was very instrumental in finding the way how we will balance the burden sharing between us and Europe with the new pledge of 5% of GDP being spent on defense. I hope that Ankara summit will be also very

instrumental in this way once again to show unity that NATO is united. Yes, we have issues and we are solving it. Now we have the proposed concept of NATO 3.0 zero meaning that NATO is adapting again after the decades to the new strategic environment where Europe European part and North American part meaning US and Canada you know adjusting their roles and this is a complicated way look at the result process you know everywhere process can be nasty but the very result should satisfy us all okay let me ask you about Lebanon the situation in Lebanon how confident ident are you that a ceasefire there can bring a long-term peace when Israel has refused to remove its forces from southern Lebanon.

This is the clear interest of all to stop the military escalation and to stop the uh military offense. Uh that's why we really support and commend the efforts to achieve the ceasefire and it has to be used in the most effective way to achieve the agreement and the result. This is the legitimate interest of Israel uh to decrease the threats coming from the uh neighborhood and especially when we're talking about the Iranian uh proxies. Uh, of course there is the absolutely interest of international community uh to have Hezbollah disarmed and but we have to find the ways how to do it without harming civilians again without causing the destruction as it is right now and using the instruments that we are that we still have in our

hands and this is the talking and this is the diplomacy. So I'm I'm really expecting that it will be used wisely and once again uh everyone who is contributing to maintaining the ceasefire we commend this effort. But do you believe that the deaths of 2,000 people in Lebanon is self-defense def I never I will never support any military action causing the civilian death. On the other hand, we all know because the ones that are suffering the worst the most are civilians. The thing, you know, those losses that we call collateral damage, you know, they by definition are the biggest damage that is done. This is the reality and this is why we have to stop the escalation overall in the Middle East and look for the solutions.

I cannot put it in the definition because I cannot put into the you know clear definition uh except the one that is absolutely against the international law for example what is happening in Ukraine right now and what is happening you know to civilians there of course this is the brutal way of solving the issues and we should find the other one and especially talking with Israel. Ukraine is my next question. Ukraine's foreign minister was here in Antalya yesterday. He said that allied countries still have many more tools available that they can use to put pressure on Russia and that is the only way to bring

about peace to exert more pressure. How much do you agree with that statement and how much more do you believe that Europe and others can do? We had the answer to it back in 22 in 23 when we were discussing the additional sanctions package. What can else be done from the Europe side? So be the oil trade and the shadow fleet, be the financial institutions of Russia or be the huge industrial complexes that are still functioning globally and or be the nuclear energy companies that are still functioning. So we knew from the beginning and the fact that we stuck with the 20s sanctions package from the European side that is very

upsetting. So with the new energy in Hungary after their election, I really expect that we will release all the vetos uh we will take them off the table and we can proceed with the 20 sanctions package and start building the 21st because it's not we are not there yet. With all the criticism coming from Europe towards US position in visav Ukraine and Russia, we have to remind ourselves that US has sanctioned more Russian companies that than European Union. How come it can be? So from our side, there are still some homework that are not done and we have to get ourselves together and do it. All the primes in the oil industries still not sanctioned. Rosatam again we have to go after them financial

institutions not all of them and some of the goods are still imported in into Europe even understanding that we have the tension because of the hormus trade situation with the fertilizers but we have to also put the extra tariffs on on Russian uh fertilizers for example be being important to the European Union there are more efforts what we learned from these more than four years when we coordinate these efforts from the EU side and from the US side within the G7 they are the most effective. So we have to once again to return to coordination with the United States and the shadow fleet EU did a lot in this regard understanding that half of the oil and oil projects exports from Russia go

through Baltic Sea. This is the sea that my country has the coast. So we increase the pressure on you know on illegal uh illegal trade in oil what Russia is doing but we have to expand this operation. We have to put the ban on the maritime services. And by the way this is something that we should also apply to Iran and to their shadow fleet in the future if Iran doesn't comply with international law. And my final question, Turkey has offered to mediate and negotiate in any way that it can to bring an end both to the conflicts in Iran, in Ukraine, and others. This forum alone is a place for diplomacy and dialogue. And so I just want to ask you, what more of a role do you see for Turkey in the future when it

comes to conflict mediation? Yeah, this is this is the role that they already are playing and we had we saw uh some of the meetings already during the aggression against Ukraine and I really, you know, commend those and that's that's the right thing to do. On the other hand, understanding the international weight and role of Turkey that is increasing uh some instruments towards the pressuring some of the sides also should be considered and uh looking into the future we are not guaranteed that there will be less crisis and that will be more stability everywhere. So there will be more job to be done for the diplomats.

We have to adjust to the multipolar world. We are still living in some of the remnances from the uniolar world. Now it's now situation is diff different and more difficult. So for the for diplomats to and for different experts from all around the world to come into one place and to look for the solution, this is a good way to go forward because we saw already in one year only when we cannot find the solution in diplomatic way. Then we found our find ourself in the you know dramatic situations with the civilians dying and the war being waged you know in all the direction. We have to, you know, at least prevent the scale of it. I'm not naive about the future because the direction is really dangerous, but we have to prevent what

we already have. And those are the principles and the principles that first you talk and then try to solve it in a peaceful way. So I see the Antalya diplomatic forum as a great place to be and I'm happy that I'm here. Minister, thank you so much for your time. Thank you.