TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government will support efforts to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East, which has heated up after Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel. On Tuesday evening, April 16, President Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, issued instructions to support de-escalation in a closed-door meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta.

"The president discussed the events in the Middle East, especially those related to Iran and Israel," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said after the meeting, as quoted by Antara.

According to Airlangga, the Jokowi administration sees de-escalation as an important effort to maintain Indonesia's relations with a number of countries. In particular, he said, with countries involved in disputes in the Middle East.

On the same occasion, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that geopolitics was the main topic of discussion with Jokowi. Retno said the Indonesian government was concerned about the development of the situation in the Middle East. "We strongly believe that escalation will benefit noone," she said.

Retno said Jokowi also instructed her ministry to continue to take diplomatic measures following Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel. In particular, Jokowi instructed the Foreign Ministry to convince the parties involved in to exercise restraint and avoid escalation.

In addition to Airlangga and Retno, today's closed-door meeting at the palace was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Hadi Tjahjanto and Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo.

For the first time in history, Iran launched a direct strike on Israel. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops fired more than 300 drones and missiles into Israel from Iranian territory, more than 1,770 kilometers from the Jewish state.

The Iranian government has stressed that its operation was in response to an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which killed two Iranian Revolutionary Guard generals and five military advisers.

Iran has declared that the military strike on April 14, 2024 has ended. However, they will retaliate further, and with more power, if Israel threatens to counterattack.

SULTAN ABDURRAHMAN

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