President Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday hailed the “American intervention” which brought about a ceasefire in the conflict between Iran and Israel earlier in the week.

“We must start by welcoming the American intervention, because we must say things as they are. It was the American intervention which led to the ceasefire, to a positive outcome, taking into account the general developments,” he said ahead of the day’s European Council summit in Brussels.

He added that the conflict is “another indication of the need” for the European Union to “play a leading role” in international developments, particularly in the Middle East, in the future, saying that he will work to this end when Cyprus takes on the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency in the first half of next year.

“Our goal is precisely this – to bring the region closer to the European Union,” he said, adding that it was his initiative which will soon bring Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to attend the sidelines of future European Council meetings.

In addition, he said, he will be “happy to welcome” Aoun in Cyprus “in the coming days”.

As well as diplomacy, he also stressed the EU’s role in defence and security, saying that Cyprus will “fully utilise the opportunities offered, financial and others, by the EU’s programme”.

“First of all, it is there to help European [defence] industry, and we have a Cypriot industry which is very promising, and we will utilise it,” he said.

United States President Donald Trump had announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran on Tuesday morning, promising to bring to an end 12 days of conflict which had seen volleys of missiles fired between the two countries and the US itself bomb nuclear facilities in Iran.

The ceasefire had almost buckled on Tuesday, with a stray Iranian missile being met with a fresh round of strikes by Israel.

However, after a clearly incensed Trump had told reporters outside the White House that he was “really unhappy” with Israel’s actions and that both Israel and Iran “don’t know what the f**k they’re doing”, it has thus far held.