Europe pursues diplomacy as Trump considers US role in Israel-Iran air war

Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it wanted to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel.

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump would decide on U.S. action in the next two weeks.

Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said, with those killed including the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists.

Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll from either side.

Israel has targeted nuclear sites and missile capabilities but also hit civilian areas, and Western and regional officials say it is trying to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Are we targeting the downfall of the regime? That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with Israel's superpower ally the United States, which he called a partner in crime, "until Israeli aggression stops".

Iran has said it is targeting military and defence-related sites in Israel, although it has also hit a hospital and other civilian sites. Iranian media has said that Israel targeted a hospital in Iran.

Israel accused Iran on Thursday of deliberately targeting civilians through the use of cluster munitions, which disperse small bombs over a wide area. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran's emergency services said on Friday that five hospitals had been damaged in Israeli strikes.

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS

With neither side backing down, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, along with the European Union foreign policy chief, were due to meet Araqchi in Geneva on Friday to try to de-escalate the conflict.

"Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one," said British Foreign Minister David Lammy.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Lammy on Thursday and held separate calls with his counterparts from Australia, France and Italy.

The U.S. State Department said Rubio and the foreign ministers agreed that "Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon."

Lammy said a "window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution." But Araqchi told Iranian state television on Friday that Tehran would not agree to talks while Israeli strikes persist.

The U.S. role remained uncertain. President Donald Trump's special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, has spoken to Araqchi several times since last week, sources say.

The White House said Trump would take part in a national security meeting on Friday morning. He has alternated between threatening Tehran and urging it to resume nuclear talks that were suspended over the conflict.

MISSILE STRIKES

At dawn on Friday, the Israeli military issued a new warning of incoming missiles from Iran. At least one made a direct impact in Beersheba, Israel's largest southern city.

The missile struck near residential apartments, office buildings and industrial facilities, leaving a large crater and ripping off the facade of at least one apartment complex while damaging several others.

On Thursday, Iran hit a major hospital in Beersheba. Iran said it was targeting Israeli military headquarters near the hospital but Israel denies there were any such facilities in the area.

Israel's military also said it had carried out several overnight strikes in the heart of Tehran. The targets included missile production sites and a facility for nuclear weapons research and development, it said.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned of action against Iranian ally Hezbollah on Friday, a day after the Lebanese militant group suggested it would come to Iran's aid.

Israel has been fighting on several fronts against Iran's regional allies since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked it in October of 2023, triggering the Gaza war.

Trump has weighed up striking Iran, possibly with a "bunker buster" bomb that could destroy nuclear sites deep underground.

With the Islamic Republic facing one of its greatest external threats since the 1979 revolution, any direct challenge to its 46-year rule would be likely to require some form of popular uprising.

Iranian opposition groups think their time may be near, but activists involved in previous protests say they are unwilling to unleash mass unrest with their nation under attack, and Iranian authorities have cracked down hard on dissent.

"How are people supposed to pour into the streets? In such horrifying circumstances, people are solely focused on saving themselves, their families, their compatriots, and even their pets," said Atena Daemi, a prominent activist who spent six years in prison before leaving Iran.