As President Donald Trump decides whether to go to war in Iran, key European countries are pursuing a diplomatic path, hoping to find a negotiated solution and de-escalate the conflict between Israel and Iran before it engulfs the region.

After several days of back-channel discussions, foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany, together with Kaja Kallas, the European Union foreign policy chief, are scheduled to hold talks Friday with their Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

David Lammy, Britain’s foreign minister, said Thursday afternoon in a statement on social media, “The situation in the Middle East remains perilous. We are determined that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon.”

“A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution,” he added.

If the meeting, scheduled for Geneva, takes place, it would be the most significant European involvement since Israel launched its surprise attacks against Iran last week. And it would be the first in-person discussions between Iran and the West since Israel began attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and other sites.

Trump has made it clear in the past that he wants a deal and would prefer not to engage the United States in another war in the Middle East. At the same time, he has vowed, as presidents have before him, that Iran should never be able to build a nuclear weapon.

He has used the threat of U.S. military force to try to drive the Iranians to the negotiating table, where they would now arrive in an even weaker position than before.

Araghchi has repeatedly said that Iran is open to negotiating tough limits on its nuclear program, but not to giving up uranium enrichment for civilian purposes. For now, Israel seems intent on pursuing its military campaign to deny Iran any nuclear program, and perhaps even to topple the Iranian government.

Until now, the Europeans, who were instrumental in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, have been effectively sidelined — first by the bilateral U.S.-Iran talks and then by the war.

But they, too, are committed to ensuring that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and they are trying now to exert the limited leverage they have to end the war and to ensure a nonnuclear Iran.

Kallas and the Europeans had a phone conversation with Araghchi on Monday, she said, to “see what more can we do to really sit down and de-escalate.”

On Wednesday, they issued a joint statement calling for restraint and de-escalation between Iran and Israel. On Friday, they are set to urge the Iranians to return to negotiations, even as Trump holds the possibility of U.S. military involvement over their heads.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot of France said Thursday at a Paris news conference that Iran’s message was “relatively clear: There is a willingness to resume talks, including with the United States, provided that a ceasefire can be reached.”

European views are unlikely to be an important factor in Trump’s decision on whether to attack Iran. He already tried to bypass Europe and negotiate a nuclear deal on his own, though unsuccessfully.

Still, if U.S. troops are hit by Iran, Washington will expect European support. If a negotiated deal is ever completed, the Europeans will be important, both at the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the watchdog for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, in helping to enforce it.

Europe’s position is hampered by its division over Israel. German, French and European Union officials have ramped up criticism of Israeli military conduct in the Gaza Strip. But they have been much more guarded and divided when it comes to the strikes on Iran. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has welcomed them; Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has warned against a widening war.