Negotiations start amid raging war
- Iran, Israel trade missiles, strikes for 8th day
- US issues new Iran-related sanctions
- Guterres urges all to 'give peace a chance'
- IAEA warns against strike on nuclear facilities in Iran
- UK joins other nations in pulling embassy staff from Iran
- Tehran appoints new chief of intelligence at IRG
- 24 arrested in Iran accused of spying for Israel
- 639 Iranians killed in Issraeli attacks
European powers hoped to offer a "diplomatic solution" to the Iran-Israel crisis as they met with the top diplomat of Iran in Geneva yesterday, as arch foes continue to exchange missile attacks for the eighth day.
The meeting, which was focused on Iran's nuclear programme, comes as US President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of entering the war between the two foes.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Israel, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, a claim denied by most UN observers and other signatories of the landmark nuclear deal in 2015.
Amid the push for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Israel's military chief Eyal Zamir warned that his country should be "ready for a prolonged campaign" against Iran.
"We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign," Zamir said in a video statement to Israelis.
Israel launched attacks against Iran last Friday, which have combined targeted assassinations of key military personnel with strikes on Iran's nuclear and missile facilities.
Zamir said the Israeli military had prepared for "years" for the campaign against Iran, even while Israeli troops continue their devastating campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Analysts say Iran was severely weakened by Israeli strikes on allied militant groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon since 2023, while Israel damaged Tehran's air defences in tit-for-tat exchanges between the countries last year.
On the ground, Israel's military said it struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a centre for the "research and development of Iran's nuclear weapons project".
In Israel, sirens sounded in the afternoon after missiles were launched from Iran for the second time yesterday, and rescuers reported two injured, including a 16-year-old in serious condition.
A military official said that "approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel" in the latest salvo.
Later, Israel said at least 19 people were injured in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa after a barrage of missiles was fired in the afternoon.
Trump has said he would decide "within the next two weeks" whether to involve the United States in the fighting.
In the meeting in Geneva, European powers urged Iran to revive diplomatic efforts with the United States to find a solution in the standoff over its nuclear programme, but Tehran warned it could only consider diplomacy once Israel halted its bombardment of the Islamic republic.
British, French, German and EU top diplomats held talks in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, giving diplomacy a chance one week after Israel started its bombardment.
"The good result today is that we leave the room with the impression that the Iranian side is ready to further discuss all the important questions," said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in a statement alongside his European counterparts.
"It is of great importance that the United States takes part in these negotiations and the solution," he added.
The statements read by all four top diplomats in their native languages after the talks expressed hope of further progress but did not make any mention of a breakthrough.
Araghchi, making his first trip outside Iran since the bombardment began, said Tehran was ready to "consider diplomacy" again only once Israel's "aggression is stopped".
"In this regard I made it crystal clear that Iran's defence capabilities are not negotiable," he said.
"We support the continuation of discussion... and express our readiness to meet again in the near future," he said.
Meanwhile, the French FM yesterday condemned the efforts to change the regime in Iran from outside, calling it "dangerous".
Earlier, addressing the UN Human Rights Council yesterday, Araghchi said Israel's attacks were a "betrayal" of diplomatic efforts to reach a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.
"We were attacked in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process," he said.
In an interview with German publication Bild, Israel's top diplomat Gideon Saar said he did not "particularly" believe in diplomacy with Iran.
"All diplomatic efforts so far have failed," said Saar, whose country had supported Trump's 2018 decision to abandon a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.
The Iranians, according to Saar, have used negotiations "to gain time while making progress (in their nuclear programme), and I don't think they've changed their nature".
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was not seeking to be a mediator between Iran and Israel, and was only suggesting ideas for how the countries could resolve the escalating crisis.
The Kremlin has spent much of the week positioning Moscow as a potential peacemaker after Israel launched strikes on Iran, which retaliated with missiles and drones.
But Western leaders have pushed back on a role for Putin, and earlier this week Moscow said Israel had shown little interest in its overtures.
"We are by no means seeking to act as a mediator; we are simply suggesting ideas," Putin said at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg.
"If they turn out to be attractive to both sides, we will only be happy."
While Moscow has condemned Israel's strikes, Russia has not offered military help to its ally Iran and has downplayed its obligations under a sweeping strategic partnership agreement signed just months ago.
The Russian foreign ministry on Thursday warned the United States against "military intervention" in the conflict, as it weighs joining Israel's strikes against Iran.
The UN Security Council was also due to convene yesterday for a second session on the conflict, which was requested by Iran with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP.
The escalating confrontation is quickly reaching "the point of no return", Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned yesterday, saying "this madness must end as soon as possible".
UN chief Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, pleaded with all sides to "give peace a chance".
He warned that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could ignite a fire no one can control and called on parties to the conflict and potential parties to the conflict to de-escalate.
The Trump administration yesterday said it had issued fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting eight entities, one vessel and one person for their alleged role in providing sensitive machinery for Tehran's defence industry.
Two of the entities include shipping companies based in Hong Kong: Unico Shipping Co Ltd and Athena Shipping Co Ltd, the statement said.
The Treasury Department on Friday also issued counterterrorism-related sanctions targeting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis over alleged illicit oil trading and shipping, it said in a separate statement.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, said that while Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent, there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.
"So, saying how long it would take for them, it would be pure speculation because we do not know whether there was somebody... secretly pursuing these activities," the agency's chief Rafael Grossi told CNN.
"We haven't seen that and we have to say it."
He also warned against attacks on nuclear facilities and called for maximum restraint amid Israel's strikes on Iran.
His comments came as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran could produce an atomic bomb in "a couple of weeks".
Any US involvement in Israel's campaign would be expected to involve the bombing of a crucial underground nuclear facility in Fordow, using powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses.
In Iran, people fleeing Israel's attacks described frightening scenes and difficult living conditions, including food shortages and limited internet access.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said authorities had restricted internet access to avoid "problems" like cyberattacks.
Protests broke out in Tehran and other cities after Friday prayers, with demonstrators chanting slogans in support of their leaders, state television showed.
"I will sacrifice my life for my leader," read a protester's banner, a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Britain yesterday withdrew its embassy staff from Iran, following in the footsteps of other European nations as well as Australia and New Zealand.
The death toll in Israel from Iranian missile strikes since June 13 was 25 people, according to authorities. Iran's attacks have resulted in the displacement of more than 8,000 Israelis, Yedioth Ahronoth reported, citing the Israeli Property Tax Compensation Fund.
Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.
However, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran. Top military leaders and scientists are among those killed.
According to Israeli, Western and regional officials, Israel's sweeping campaign of airstrikes aims to do more than destroy Iran's nuclear centrifuges and missile capabilities. It seeks to shatter the foundations of Khamenei's government and leave it near collapse.
Netanyahu wants Iran weakened enough to be forced into fundamental concessions on permanently abandoning its nuclear enrichment, its ballistic missile programme and its support for militant groups across the region, the sources said.
The Israeli PM on Thursday said that he is being asked whether Israel is targeting the downfall of the Iranian regime. "That may be the result," he said. "But it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom. Freedom is never cheap."
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