European leaders are pushing for a diplomatic breakthrough as tensions escalate between Iran and Israel, with renewed missile fire targeting Israeli territory on Friday. Speaking on the sidelines of a high-stakes meeting in Geneva, French President Emmanuel Macron said European powers are seeking to present “a comprehensive diplomatic solution” to ease the growing crisis.
The Geneva talks—centered primarily on Iran’s nuclear program—come as U.S. President Donald Trump weighs the possibility of involving American forces in the intensifying conflict between the longtime adversaries.
Israel’s large-scale offensive against Iranian targets last week, justified by claims that Tehran was nearing nuclear weapons capability, prompted swift retaliatory strikes from Iran.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot is set to meet with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Geneva, where Macron says Europe will table “a detailed and technically sound proposal for negotiations.”
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 amid an ongoing diplomatic process,” he said.
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In an interview with German publication Bild, Israel’s top diplomat, Gideon Saar, stated that he did not particularly believe in diplomacy with Iran. He argued that all diplomatic efforts to date had failed, and recalled that Israel had supported former U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to abandon the previous nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.
Saar claimed that the Iranian authorities had used negotiations merely as a tactic to gain time while advancing their nuclear programme, and he expressed doubt that Iran had changed its fundamental character.