Iran rules out nuclear talks under fire, sources say Qatar met energy majors

Straits Times

4 hours ago

Iran launched a new barrage of missiles at Israel early on June 20. PHOTO: REUTERS
DUBAI/JERUSALEM - Iran said on June 20 it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel, as Europe tried to coax Tehran back into negotiations and the US considers whether to get involved in the conflict.
A week into its campaign, Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets overnight, including missile production sites, a research body involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran.
Iran launched a new barrage of missiles at Israel early on June 20, striking near residential apartments, office buildings and industrial facilities in the southern city of Beersheba.
After air raid warnings later that day, Israeli media said initial reports pointed to missile impacts in Tel Aviv, the Negev and Haifa.
World oil markets are on high alert for any strikes that hit energy facilities in Iran or elsewhere in the Gulf which affect supplies.
Qatar held crisis talks this week with energy majors after Israeli strikes on Iran's huge gas field, which it shares with Qatar, an industry source and a diplomat in the region told Reuters. Doha was asking firms to raise US, UK and European governments' awareness of increasing risks to global gas supply, they said.
QatarEnergy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House said on June 19 that President Donald Trump would decide on US involvement in the conflict in the next two weeks, citing the possibility of negotiations involving Iran in the near future.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US 'until Israeli aggression stops'.
But he was due to meet European foreign ministers in Geneva for talks at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy over Iran's nuclear programme.
Two diplomats said before the meeting with France, Britain, Germany and the European Union's foreign policy chief that Mr Araqchi would be told the US is still open to direct talks. Expectations for a breakthrough are low, diplomats say.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran was ready to discuss limitations on its uranium enrichment and that the European's role was now more prominent because Iran is unwilling to engage with the US while under fire from Israel.
But any proposal for zero enrichment - not being able to enrich uranium at all - will be rejected 'especially now under Israel's strikes', the official said.
Israel began attacking Iran on June 13, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel.
Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this.
Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists.
In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities.
Both sides say they are attacking military and defence-related targets.
An Iranian news website said a drone had struck an apartment in a residential building in central Tehran on June 20, but did not give details.
Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear installations so far pose only limited risks of contamination, experts say. But they warn that any attack on the nuclear power station at Bushehr could cause a nuclear disaster.
Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities but that it wants to avoid any nuclear disaster in a region that is inhabited by tens of millions of people and produces much of the world's oil.
The meeting in Geneva was due to start on the afternoon of June 20. The Swiss city is where an initial accord was struck in 2013 to curb Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions being lifted. A comprehensive deal followed in 2015.
Mr Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018. A new series of talks between Iran and the US collapsed when Israel started attacking Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic capabilities on June 12.
Mr Trump has alternated between threatening Tehran and urging it to resume nuclear talks. His special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, has spoken to Mr Araqchi several times since last week, sources say.
Western and regional officials say Israel is trying to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Katz said he had instructed the military to intensify attacks on 'symbols of the regime' in the Iranian capital Tehran, aiming to destabilise it.
Iran has arrested an 'agent' of Israel's foreign spy agency Mossad who was sending information on Iranian air defence installations to Israel using WhatsApp messaging, Iran's state broadcaster said.
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.
Iranian state media reported rallies in several cities, describing them as rallies of 'rage and victory,' and 'solidarity and resistance.' REUTERS
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