
Iran nuclear programme is a threat for Israel and Europe, says French Foreign Minister
PARIS: Tehran's nuclear programme is a threat for the security of Israel and of Europe and diplomacy is the only way to avoid an escalation in the conflict between Israel and Iran, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday.
'The Iranian nuclear programme is an existentiel threat for the security of Israel and beyond the security of Europe. We always said the best way to prevent that threat, to contain it, remains diplomacy,' Barrot told RTL radio.
Iran missiles kill 10 in Israel in night of mutual attacks
Germany, France and Britain are ready to hold immediate talks with Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme in an effort to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said earlier.

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Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Express Tribune
Israel's attacks could result in regime change in Iran: Netanyahu
US President Donald Trump speaks as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves following a meeting in the White House, in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS Listen to article Regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel's military attacks on the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday, saying Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the "existential threat" posed by Tehran. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. Israel's military has said the current goal of the campaign is not a change in regime, but the dismantling of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Asked by Fox's Bret Baier on his "Special Report" program if regime change was part of Israel's military effort, Netanyahu said: "Could certainly be the result because the Iran regime is very weak." "We're geared to do whatever is necessary to achieve our dual aim, to remove ... two existential threats - the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat," Netanyahu said in one of his first interviews since Israel's attacks began. "We did act - to save ourselves, but also, I think, to not only protect ourselves, but protect the world from this incendiary regime. We can't have the world's most dangerous regime have the world's most dangerous weapons," he said. Israel has said its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu has openly urged the Iranian people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict, as US President Donald Trump said it could be ended easily while warning Tehran not to strike any US targets. Asked about a Reuters report that Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu said: "I'm not going to get into that." But he said he had informed Trump ahead of Friday's military action. American pilots are shooting down Iranian drones headed toward Israel, he said. With worries growing of a regional conflagration, Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the US has taken part in it. He warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include US targets or else face the "full strength and might" of the US armed forces. Trump has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but Western countries say could be used to make a bomb. The latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, due to be held on Sunday, was scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack.


Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Netanyahu sees Gaza hostage release 'opening', orders talks
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he ordered negotiators to "advance" talks on releasing hostages held in Gaza, after sensing an opportunity amid Israel's unprecedented attack on arch-foe Iran. "I gave instructions the day before yesterday to advance negotiations, because I sense an opening... We will complete... both missions: the destruction of Hamas and the release of the hostages," he said of talks with Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for the release of hostages held in Gaza. Speaking on US news channel Fox News, Netanyahu said moments later that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff "made an offer to begin a 60-day ceasefire, a ceasefire in which half of those hostages would be released right away". Netanyahu says significant progress made in talks to release hostages "And I said, yes, we're ready to go. There's been some development there. I hope we're able to do that," he added. Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, 52 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in the 2014 war. Israel's military on Sunday identified the hostage whose body it retrieved from Gaza last week as Aviv Atzili. Israel on Friday launched an aerial assault to destroy the Iran's defence capabilities and cripple its nuclear programme, hitting nuclear and military facilities, and killing top commanders, atomic scientists and dozens of civilians. Iran's retaliatory missile fire killed at least 10 people in Israel overnight, according to authorities, pushing the death toll up to 13 since it began its military response on Friday, with 380 reported injured. Israeli attacks on Iran killed at least 128 people on Friday and Saturday, including children, Iranian media reported, citing the health ministry, with hundreds more wounded.


Express Tribune
3 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Trump vetoed Israeli plan to kill Iran's supreme leader, US officials say
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks on, in a televised message following the Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader. PHOTO: REUTERS Listen to article President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday. "Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," said one of the sources, a senior US administration official. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran in a bid to halt its nuclear program. They said the Israelis reported that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off of the plan. The officials would not say whether Trump himself delivered the message. But Trump has been in frequent communications with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When asked about Reuters report, Netanyahu, in an interview on Sunday with Fox News Channel's "Special Report With Bret Baier," said: "There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that." "But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States," Netanyahu said. Trump has been holding out hope for a resumption of US-Iranian negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program. Talks that had been scheduled for Sunday in Oman were canceled as a result of the strikes. Trump told Reuters on Friday that "we knew everything" about the Israeli strikes.