Israel and Iran trade fire as Europe’s diplomatic effort yields no breakthrough

MIDDLE EAST

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An Iraqi Shiite cleric holds a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, at a bridge leading to the fortified Green Zone where the U.S. Embassy is in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday. HADI MIZBAN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Sam Mednick, Jon Gambrell and David Rising

The Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel >> Israel and Iran traded strikes a week into their war Friday as President Donald Trump weighed U.S. military involvement and key European ministers met with Iran’s top diplomat in Geneva in a scramble to de-escalate the conflict.

But the first face-to-face meeting between Western and Iranian officials in the weeklong war concluded after four hours with no sign of an immediate breakthrough.

To give diplomacy a chance, Trump said he would put off deciding for up to two weeks whether to join Israel’s air campaign against Iran. U.S. participation would most likely involve strikes against Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility, considered to be out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.

Regardless whether the U.S. joins, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military operation in Iran would continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles. Israel’s top general echoed the warning, saying the Israeli military was ready “for a prolonged campaign.”

As negotiations ended in Switzerland, European officials expressed hope for future negotiations. Iran’s top diplomat said he was open to further dialogue.

But Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continued attacking.

“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes,” he told reporters.

No date was set for the next round of talks.

Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the U.S., France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% — and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.

After Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran, including missile-manufacturing facilities, an Iranian missile crashed into Israel’s northern city of Haifa, sending plumes of smoke billowing over the Mediterranean port and wounding at least 31 people.

The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.