TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) 鈥 Hours of talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war entered its second week with a fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries.
European ministers and Iran's top diplomat met for four hours Friday in Geneva, as President Donald Trump continued to weigh U.S. military involvement and worries rose over potential strikes on nuclear reactors.
European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continued attacking.
鈥淚ran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes,鈥 he told reporters.
No date was set for the next round of talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel鈥檚 military operation in Iran would continue 鈥渇or as long as it takes鈥 to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran鈥檚 nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles. Israel鈥檚 top general echoed the warning, saying the Israeli military was ready 鈥渇or a prolonged campaign.鈥
But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without U.S. help. Iran鈥檚 underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but . Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel鈥檚 air campaign against Iran .
The war between Israel and Iran , with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by , but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.
Israel鈥檚 defense minister said Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct 7. 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Israel said Saeed Izadi was commander of the Palestine Corps for the Iranian Quds Force, an elite arm of the Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran, and that he was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom.
Worries rise over the perils of attacking Iran's nuclear reactors
Addressing an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, the head of the warned against attacks on Iran鈥檚 nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr.
鈥淚 want to make it absolutely and completely clear: In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity to the environment,鈥 said Rafael Grossi, chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog. 鈥淭his is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.鈥
Israel has not targeted Iran鈥檚 nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the southwest of the capital. Grossi has warned repeatedly that such sites should not be military targets.
After initially reporting no visible damage from Israel鈥檚 Thursday strikes on the Arak heavy water reactor, the IAEA on Friday said it had assessed 鈥渒ey buildings at the facility were damaged,鈥 including the distillation unit.
The reactor was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so the damage posed no risk of contamination, the watchdog said.
Iran and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the U.S., France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the U.S. during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% 鈥 a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% 鈥 and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%. to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it.
Israel says 鈥榙ifficult days鈥 ahead
Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran on Friday, including missile-manufacturing facilities, while an Iranian missile hit Israel鈥檚 northern city of Haifa, sending plumes of smoke billowing over the Mediterranean port and wounding at least 31 people.
Iranian state media reported explosions from Israeli strikes in an industrial area of Rasht, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Israel鈥檚 military had warned Iranians to evacuate the area around Rasht鈥檚 Industrial City, southwest of the city鈥檚 downtown. But with 鈥 now for more than 48 hours 鈥 it鈥檚 unclear how many people could see the message.
The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran鈥檚 ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks.
But several of the roughly three dozen missiles that Israel said Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country鈥檚 aerial defense system, setting off air-raid sirens across the country and sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, a frequent target of Iranian missiles where a Thursday.
