Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt (L) and Home Secretary Sajid Javid arrive for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, on Jan. 15. 2019.(Xinhua/Tim Ireland)

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned on Monday morning that the standoff between Iran and the United States could trigger an unintended conflict.

Arriving for a European Union foreign affairs meeting, Hunt told reporters that "We are very worried about a conflict, about the risk of a conflict happening by accident, with an escalation that is unintended on either side."

"We'll be sharing those concerns with my European counterparts, with (U.S. Secretary of State) Mike Pompeo, and I think what we need is a period of calm, to make sure everyone understands what the other side is thinking and most of all we need to make sure we don't end up putting Iran back on the path to re-nuclearization," he said.

"I think there is a real concern that escalation is unintended could end up with a much more serious situation," he said.

The U.S. administration, under President Donald Trump, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. The deal, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, was reached in 2015 between Iran, China, France, Russia, Britain, United States, Germany and the European Union.

The European signatories still support the deal and have vowed to sidestep U.S. sanctions re-imposed after its withdrawal.

Tensions have been rising lately in the Gulf, with the U.S. sending an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region.

The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said earlier that she was notified during the night that Mike Pompeo would pay a visit to Brussels on Monday.