ASEAN Chair’s Statement on the Outcomes of the Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the Situation in the Middle East

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers convened a Special Meeting on 13 March 2026, via videoconference, to exchange views on the evolving situation in the Middle East and to address its implications for ASEAN.
The Meeting expressed serious concern over the escalation of conflict in the Middle East following the attacks initiated by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran on 28 February 2026, and Israeli attack on the Lebanese Republic, and the subsequent retaliatory attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against several countries in the region, including the Kingdom of Bahrain, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Iraq, State of Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, and the United Arab Emirates, which continue to heighten tensions in the Middle East, and pose a grave threat to the lives and safety of civilians, as well as to regional and global peace and stability. The Meeting called on all countries to respect international law, including the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter).