Foreign Minister Says BoP Talks Put On Hold After US–Israel Attacks on Iran

JAKARTA — Foreign Minister Sugiono said discussions within the Board of Peace (BoP) are presently on hold as tensions rise in the Middle East. He spoke in response to calls for Indonesia to withdraw from the BoP following Israel and the United States’ strikes on Iran. ‘Yes, at the moment all BoP talks are on hold. All, as it were, attention has shifted to the situation in Iran,’ he told reporters at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Tuesday night (3 March 2026).

Indeed, several member countries of the BoP have also been affected by the escalation in the region. ‘As for the BoP, we will continue consultations and close coordination with our Gulf colleagues, because they are also affected by the attacks and are BoP members,’ Sugiono said.

He added that President Prabowo Subianto has also been exchanging telephone calls with Gulf states. ‘All have telephoned; those whose timing is still pending may be MBS. The others already have,’ he said.

However, Sugiono did not reveal the contents of the conversations, as they are communications between heads of state. ‘The communication is between leaders, after all.’

The coalition consists of dozens of academics, cultural figures, activists, and various institutions and organisations. They drafted a petition in response to four core issues: the RI–US trade agreement, Indonesia’s involvement in BoP, plans to send the Indonesian military to Gaza, and the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran. In the petition, they even changed the BoP acronym to Board of War. They also argued that the BoP chair, who should safeguard peace under the charter of the organisation, acted contrary to those principles. Therefore, in this context, Indonesia is considered to have reason to withdraw from the BoP.