KEY POINTS
- Trump says he will decide on military action against Iran within two weeks
- White House confirms continued correspondence with Iran
- Iranian Foreign Minister to meet EU and E3 foreign ministers in Geneva
- Russia warns the US against interfering in military actions against Iran
- Moscow calls on Israel to immediately halt its attacks on Iran
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to attack Iran within the next two weeks due to a “substantial” chance of negotiations, as Israel and the Islamic Republic traded fire for a seventh day.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump at a briefing, saying there had been “a lot of speculation” about whether the United States would be “directly involved.”
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in the statement as read by Leavitt.
Leavitt did not give details of what had led Trump to believe that negotiations with Iran were possible.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said he would join key European counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland, for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
“We will meet with the European delegation in Geneva on Friday,” Araghchi said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.
The Iranian top diplomat will be meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Britain and the EU’s top diplomat.
Trump had said on Wednesday that Iran had asked to send officials to the White House to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme and end the conflict with Israel. Iran denied it would do so.
Leavitt said that “correspondence has continued” between the United States and Iran when asked about reports that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff had been in touch with Iran’s foreign minister.
But she said she was “not tracking” that Witkoff would go to Geneva for talks with Iran.
Trump held his third meeting in three days in the White House’s highly secured Situation Room on Thursday as he continued to mull whether to join Israel’s bombing campaign.
The US president had said on Wednesday that “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do” when asked if he would take military action against Iran.
Russia warns US against military intervention
Russia on Thursday warned the United States against interfering in military actions against Iran cautioning that it would be “an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences”.
“We would like to especially warn Washington against military intervention in the situation, which would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), state-run TASS news agency reported.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman called on Israel to immediately halt its attacks on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, warning that such actions are illegal under international law and endanger the safety of Russian specialists working at one of Iran’s nuclear power plants.
“We consider the Israeli side’s attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran to be absolutely unacceptable,” Zakharova said.
“This is illegal from the point of view of international law, creates unacceptable threats to international security and pushes the world towards a nuclear catastrophe.”
Branding the Israeli strikes “unprovoked aggression,” Zakharova condemned attempts to justify them with what she described as “imaginary non-proliferation concerns,” calling such reasoning “outright cynicism.”
The warnings came amid escalating hostilities between Iran and Israel, which intensified after Israel launched a wide-ranging military operation last Friday, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, military sites, and top scientific personnel.
Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, responded with missile and drone strikes.
According to the Iranian Health Ministry, over 224 people have been killed and at least 1,800 injured. Israel reported more than 24 deaths and over 800 injuries from Iran’s missile and drone strikes.
Despite international calls for restraint, both sides continue to exchange fire, with Israel vowing to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities and Tehran pledging to keep retaliating until the bombardments stop. – Agencies
