Europe pushes diplomatic solution to Iran-Israel war in Geneva
Mourners attend a funeral for those killed in Israeli strikes on Iran, in Qazvin, Iran, June 19, 2025. PHOTO:REUTERS
Listen to article
European powers hoped to offer a "diplomatic solution" as they met with Iran in Geneva on Friday, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, as Israel again came under Iranian missile fire.
The meeting, which is expected to focus on Iran's nuclear programme, comes as US President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of entering the war between the two foes.
Israel, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, launched a massive wave of strikes a week ago, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will meet his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva "to make a complete diplomatic and technical offer for negotiations", Macron told reporters.
France and its allies Germany and Britain were "putting a diplomatic solution on the table", he added.
On the ground, Israel's military said it struck dozens of targets in Tehran overnight, including what it called a centre for the "research and development of Iran's nuclear weapons project".
In Israel, sirens sounded in the afternoon after missiles were launched from Iran for the second time on Friday, and rescuers reported two injured, including a 16-year-old in serious condition.
A military official said that "approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel" in the latest salvo.
On Iranian state TV, a news anchor described footage of "Iranian missiles arriving" in the sky over Israel, as the channel broadcast the footage with military music playing in the background.
Trump has said he would decide "within the next two weeks" whether to involve the United States in the fighting.
Israel, the United States and other Western powers accuse Iran of seeking an atomic weapon, a charge that it denies.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said "a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution", while agreeing with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that "Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon".
France's foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said that "military solutions are not long-term solutions" to ensure Iran respects its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Iran's Araghchi, however, rejected any prospect of talks with the United States so long as Israel continues its attacks.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, Araghchi said Israel's attacks were a "betrayal" of diplomatic efforts to reach a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.
"We were attacked in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process," he said.
In an interview with German publication Bild, Israel's top diplomat Gideon Saar said he did not "particularly" believe in diplomacy with Iran.
"All diplomatic efforts so far have failed," said Saar, whose country had supported Trump's 2018 decision to abandon a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.
The Iranians, according to Saar, have used negotiations "to gain time while making progress (in their nuclear programme), and I don't think they've changed their nature".
The UN Security Council is also due to convene on Friday for a second session on the conflict, which was requested by Iran with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday.
The escalating confrontation is quickly reaching "the point of no return", Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday, saying "this madness must end as soon as possible".
UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile pleaded with all sides to "give peace a chance".
The International Atomic Energy Agency said that while Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent, there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.
"So, saying how long it would take for them, it would be pure speculation because we do not know whether there was somebody... secretly pursuing these activities," the agency's chief Rafael Grossi told CNN.
"We haven't seen that and we have to say it."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran could produce an atomic bomb in "a couple of weeks".
"If there's a chance for diplomacy the president's always going to grab it, but he's not afraid to use strength as well," Leavitt said.
Any US involvement in Israel's campaign would be expected to involve the bombing of a crucial underground nuclear facility in Fordo, using powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses.
In Iran, people fleeing Israel's attacks described frightening scenes and difficult living conditions, including food shortages and limited internet access.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said authorities had restricted internet access to avoid "problems" like cyberattacks.
Protests broke out in Tehran and other cities after Friday prayers, with demonstrators chanting slogans in support of their leaders, state television showed.
"I will sacrifice my life for my leader," read a protester's banner, a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Switzerland announced Friday the temporary closure of its embassy in Tehran, adding that it would continue to fulfil its role representing US interests in Iran, while the United Kingdom announced it was withdrawing its embassy staff.
The death toll in Israel from Iranian missile strikes since June 13 was 25 people, according to authorities.
Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
27 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
Trump says Europe will not be able to help much with Iran-Israel war
WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Europe would not be able to help much in the war between Iran and Israel. 'Europe is not going to be able to help with this one,' Trump said. European powers urge Iran to continue US nuclear talks European foreign ministers urged Iran on Friday to engage with Washington over its nuclear program after talks in Geneva aimed at opening negotiations for a new nuclear deal ended with little sign of progress.
Express Tribune
31 minutes ago
- Express Tribune
World Order — exceptionalism, aggression, brazen hypocrisy
The writer heads the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad. He is currently a visiting Research Fellow at Fudan University, Shanghai Listen to article Israel's ongoing reaction to the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and the current ungrounded aggression against Iran only reinforced a bitter reality of the world today — the post-9/11 order rests on brazen aggression and high-handedness of the mighty ones who have arrogated to themselves the right to define conflict, self-defense, evil, terrorism and victimhood. The world order today knows no values, no morality. Nor any consideration for national or international law. Notions such as rule of law and democracy have meanwhile been reduced to fiction. We still hear a lot of western pontification on extremism and terrorism but it's pretty ironic that they don't apply the same yardstick to Israeli actions against women and children in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. On the contrary, all leaders defended this as "Israel's right to self-defence". Donald Trump — as it turns out — simply lied when he vowed to "end wars" and uttered his contempt for the deep state. He had vowed to reform the justice department which he described as "department of injustice" immediately after his reelection. Bit by bit, the G-7 nations have scornfully pulled down the very values they championed for decades by inventing a self-serving exceptionalism in their own favour (read in Israel's favour). Today, they condemn attacks on Israel as criminal but hail the killing of nearly 60,000 Palestinians as self-defence. All G-7 leaders dub Iran as the source of instability but are literally blind to — in fact complicit with - the Israeli actions of first killing Palestinians and now recklessly bombarding Iran to neutralise their nuclear weapons, although a US report, according to CNN, says Iran is far away from making a nuclear bomb. But all that seems just an excuse for crippling Iran and brining about a regime change. On the sidelines of the recent G-7 summit in Alberta, Canada, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spelt out this backhanded approach by the Israel apologists - a virtual endorsement of Israeli actions to date. "This is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us — this mullah regime [in Iran] has brought death and destruction to the world," Merz said in an interview with the ZDF broadcaster. In a separate interview with Welt TV, Merz also suggested Israel's attacks on Iran could lead to the demise of the Islamic republic's leadership. "To be honest, I can hardly imagine the mullah regime returning to its old functions," he added, in a glaring display of hypocrisy born off cold-blooded geopolitics. The G-7 essentially endorsed the Israel position on Iran. This way they themselves undercut the very themes they touted for decades as the West's unique selling point (USP) i.e. democracy, rule of law and human rights with the United Nations watching on as a silent, literally irrelevant spectator. Its predecessor — the League of Nations — had ceased to exist on April 20, 1946, largely due to its inability to prevent major global conflicts, particularly World War II. Will the United Nations meet the same fate and drown in irrelevance? For all practical reasons, the UN has been reduced to a debating club of the elite that thrives off the funding from member countries. Israel today is doing what Rudolf Hitler did first against neighbouring European countries and then against Russia. Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 triggered reaction from America, Russia, Britain and France, with the last two mentioned countries declaring war on Germany on September 3, and so began the World War II. Will the murder of nearly 60,000 Palestinians and hundreds of Iranians as well as the potential Chinese and Russian reaction lead to the undoing of the United Nations that has been irrelevant at least since October 2023? Blind exceptionalism — basically another synonym for hypocrisy — is causing a major shift in global politics. Battle lines have further deepened with willful demonisation of Iran and its major supporters thus far i.e. China and Russia. This exceptionalism is stinkingly obnoxious, evident also from a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. "The US, Israel and India blundered by allowing Pakistan to acquire nuclear weapons. Repeating the blunder with Iran would be far worse," says an oped by Sadanand Dhume in the Journal's June 18, 2025 issue. Once again, this extremely self-serving argument — as if it were the benevolence of these countries and not relentless efforts of Pakistani scientists and engineers — exposes the exceptionalism being peddled in western official corridors and media houses. Nobody speaks of how Israelis and Indians got hold of nuclear weapons. Neither of them has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but continues to demonise Pakistan's nuclear capability like a crime committed. For the G-7 nations crimes, it seems, against hapless Palestinian women and relentless attacks on Iran are self-defence, while Pakistan's nuclear capability and Iran's nuclear pursuits are an unacceptable offence.
Business Recorder
41 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
In Istanbul, top Arab League diplomats discuss Iran-Israel war
ISTANBUL: Arab League foreign ministers gathered in Istanbul late Friday to discuss the escalating war between Iran and Israel, Turkish state news agency Anadolu said, quoting diplomatic sources. The ministers were in Turkey's largest city on the eve of weekend gathering of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was also slated to discuss the air war launched a week ago. Israel began its assault in the early hours of June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, triggering an immediate immediate retaliation from Tehran in the worst-ever confrontation between the two arch-rivals. European powers urge Iran to continue US nuclear talks Some 40 top diplomats are slated to join the weekend gathering of the OIC which will also have a session dedicated to discussing the Iran-Israel crisis, the Turkish foreign ministry said. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday, will also attend and address the diplomats, the ministry said. Earlier on Friday, Araghchi said Tehran was ready to 'consider diplomacy' again only if Israel's 'aggression is stopped'. The Arab League ministers were expected to release a statement following their meeting, Anadolu said.
