Israel-Iran conflict: EU and UK ministers to meet with Iran in Geneva
Foreign ministers from the UK, France, and Germany are due to meet their Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araqchi, in Geneva on Friday, as international efforts intensify to ease mounting tensions over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The talks come as U.S. President Donald Trump says he will decide within two weeks whether to join Israel's ongoing military campaign against Iran, amid reports that Washington is actively considering intervention.
'The president will make a decision on whether to attack Iran within two weeks,' the White House said on Thursday, adding that communication with Tehran continues and a diplomatic resolution remains possible.
Geneva, where the talks will take place, is the same city where an initial deal was reached in 2013 between Iran and world powers to limit its nuclear activity.
Following a meeting in Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the situation in the Middle East as 'perilous'.
'We discussed how a deal could avoid a deepening conflict,' Lammy said. 'A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution.'
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahraini, told Euronews that 'the minimum thing Europeans can do is to very explicitly condemn Israel and stop their support for Israel.'
Meanwhile, Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said Iran's supreme leader 'can no longer be allowed to exist,' as strikes between the two countries continue.
Join us for live updates as Euronews reporters in the region and acrossEurope bring you live updates on dramatic events in the Middle East.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
14 minutes ago
- France 24
Netanyahu's other battle: swinging Trump and US behind Iran war
In his daily calls and public statements, Israel's longest-serving prime minister has mixed praise and deference for the US leader, while also arguing that the strikes on Iran benefit Americans. "Do you want these people to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to you?" he asked during an interview on Fox News last Sunday. "Today, it's Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it's New York," he told ABC News a day later, arguing that Iran was working on longer-range missiles that would be able to reach US shores in the future. His media blitz came after intensive and not always harmonious exchanges between Netanyahu and Trump this year, with the Israeli leader welcomed twice to the White House since the Republican's return to power in January. The New York Times, citing unnamed US administration sources, reported Tuesday that Netanyahu had asked Trump for US-made bunker-busting bombs capable of reaching Iran's underground Iranian nuclear facilities in an April meeting -- but had been refused. Having been elected in opposition to US entanglements overseas and supposed "war-mongers" in the Democratic party, Trump was seen as reluctant to commit Washington to another unpopular war in the Middle East. Much of his right-wing Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition is staunchly anti-interventionist, including Vice President JD Vance, his head of national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, and influential media figures such as Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson. But speaking Wednesday, the former tycoon stated clearly that he was considering joining the Israeli campaign directly, raising the possibility of the bunker-busting GBU-57 bombs being deployed against Iran's main underground uranium stockpile facility in Fordo. "I may do it, I may not do it," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if he had decided on US air strikes. His final decision will come "within the next two weeks", he said Thursday. Influence Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank, said Netanyahu had been clever in his dealings with Trump, appealing to his "vanity" with charm as well "using his weaknesses". Once he had received an "amber light" in private from the US leader to launch the attacks last Friday, "he knew Trump's personality and knew that Trump might come on board if there was a chance of claiming glory in some way or claiming some sort of credit," he told AFP. Trump has openly praised the success of the Israeli military campaign which has combined targeted assassinations of key military personnel, destruction of Iran's air defences and repeated strikes on nuclear sites. Eliot A. Cohen, a veteran former US State Department advisor and international relations expert at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, cautioned against overstating Netanyahu's personal influence, however. "I suspect this is much less about Netanyahu's influence than Trump's own view of the Iranian nuclear programme, his memory of the assassination plot against him in 2024 by Iranian agents and the success of the initial Israeli operations," he told AFP. An Iranian man has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to kill Trump before his election last November. Cohen said Netanyahu's lobbying could succeed for several reasons. "They are not asking for anything other than the bombing of Fordo," he said, referring to the deeply buried underground uranium enrichment facility. "Nobody is talking about an invasion or anything like that." "Many if not most Americans understand that a nuclear Iran is particularly dangerous, and that the regime is deeply hostile to the US," he added. Public opinion A poll by the survey group YouGov for The Economist magazine conducted last weekend found half of Americans viewed Iran as an "enemy" and another quarter said it was "unfriendly." But it found that only 16 percent of Americans "think the US military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran". It found that majorities of Democrats (65 percent), independents (61 percent) and Republicans (53 percent) opposed military intervention. Speaking on his War Room podcast Wednesday, former Trump strategist Bannon seethed that Netanyahu had "lectured" America and started a war he couldn't end on his own.
LeMonde
24 minutes ago
- LeMonde
Europe to offer Iran 'diplomatic solution' to conflict, Macron says
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, June 20, said France and other European powers would make an offer to Iran of a comprehensive diplomatic solution to end the escalating conflict with Israel. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot will later Friday meet Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva "to make a complete diplomatic and technical offer for negotiations," Macron told reporters, adding that France and allies Germany and the UK were "putting a diplomatic solution on the table." "Iran must show that it is willing to join the platform for negotiations we are putting on the table," Macron said on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget outside the French capital. "It is essential to prioritize a return to substantive negotiations [with Iran] which include nuclear − to move to zero enrichment [by Iran of uranium] ballistics, to limit Iranian capacities, and the financing of all the terrorist groups that destabilize the region," Macron said. He added that the offer to be made by Barrot and his German and UK counterparts to Araghchi later Friday would have four aspects. 'Existential risk' The first would foresee a resumption of work by the UN atomic agency, with "the capacity to go to all the sites," so that Iran moves to zero enrichment of uranium, Macron said. The second and third aspects would comprise oversight of Iran's ballistics activities and how it finances proxies in the region, he added. The fourth would be the liberation of "hostages" by Iran, said Macron, referring to the foreigners jailed by the Islamic republic who include two French citizens. Macron said that "no-one should neglect the risk that an Iran with nuclear weapons would present," adding that the Islamic republic presented an "existential risk" for Israel. But the French president also criticized the scope of the military action by Israel which has hit targets beyond nuclear and ballistics facilities. "I consider that strikes that hit civilian or energy facilities and hit civilian populations must absolutely stop. Nothing justifies this." Macron also warned Israel that military action alone would not be sufficient to degrade the Iranian nuclear program. "No one seriously thinks that this risk [posed by the Iranian atomic drive] can be responded to only through the operations that are currently underway," he said. "There are facilities that are extremely well protected, we do not know exactly where the uranium enriched to 60% is."
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
European powers to offer Iran 'diplomatic solution' to conflict: Macron
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will later Friday meet Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva "to make a complete diplomatic and technical offer for negotiations," Macron told reporters, adding that France and allies Germany and the UK were "putting a diplomatic solution on the table". "Iran must show that it is willing to join the platform for negotiations we are putting on the table," Macron said on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget outside the French capital. "It is essential to prioritise a return to substantive negotiations (with Iran) which include nuclear -- to move to zero enrichment (by Iran of uranium) -- ballistics, to limit Iranian capacities, and the financing of all the terrorist groups that destabilise the region," Macron said. He said that the offer to be made by Barrot and his German and UK counterparts to Araghchi later Friday would have four aspects. The first would forsee a resumption of work by the UN atomic agency, with "the capacity to go to all the sites", so that Iran moves to zero enrichment of uranium, Macron said. The second and third aspects would comprise oversight of Iran's ballistics activities and how it finances proxies in the region, he added. The fourth would be the liberation of "hostages" by Iran, said Macron, referring to the foreigners jailed by the Islamic republic who include two French citizens. Macron said that "no-one should neglect the risk that an Iran with nuclear weapons would present", adding that the Islamic republic presented an "existential risk" for Israel. But the French president also criticised the scope of the military action by Israel which has hit targets beyond nuclear and ballistics facilities. "I consider that strikes that hit civilian or energy facilities and hit civilian populations must absolutely stop. Nothing justifies this." Macron also warned Israel that military action alone would not be sufficient to degrade the Iranian nuclear programme. "No one seriously thinks that this risk (posed by the Iranian atomic drive) can be responded to only through the operations that are currently underway," he said. "There are facilities that are extremely well protected we do not know exactly where the uranium enriched to 60 percent is." © 2025 AFP
