Last-ditch bid for peace at Geneva moot today as Trump defers Iran attack decision

WASHINGTON: The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks, foreign media reported.

Citing a message from Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “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.” Leavitt said that a deal with Iran must include “no enrichment of a uranium.” She reiterated Trump’s stance that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

Meanwhile, the prospect of a US strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought President Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East war. Steve Bannon, one of many influential voices from Trump’s “America First” coalition, urged caution about the US military joining Israel in trying to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme. “We can’t do this again. We’ll tear the country apart. We can’t have another Iraq.”

Reacting to a Wall Street Journal report claiming he privately approved attack plans for Iran but delayed a final go-ahead in hope Iran would abandon its nuclear programme, President Trump told his social media platform — Truth Social: “The Wall Street Journal has no Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!” As of Wednesday, Trump said he was still unsure about authorising a strike, Al Jazeera reported. “We’ll see what happens. I’ve been asked about it by everybody, but I haven’t made a decision,” he told reporters.

In a bid to find a diplomatic end to the Iran-Israel crisis, US Special Envoy for the Middle Eastern Affairs Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have spoken by phone several times since Israel began its strikes, three diplomats told Reuters. According to the diplomats, Araqchi said Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped the attacks.

At the same time, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday (today) in Geneva, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. The Iran’s Foreign Minister confirmed he would meet his British, French and German counterparts as well as the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Friday in Geneva, Iranian state media reported. They are aimed at persuading the Iranians to firmly guarantee that it will use its nuclear programme solely for civilian purposes. According to the source, the talks are to be followed by a structured dialogue at the expert level.

In a related development, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping strongly condemned Israeli attacks on Iran in a phone call and stressed the need for a diplomatic solution, Moscow and Beijing said.

Putin and Xi strongly condemned Israel’s actions, stressing that an end to hostilities should be achieved through political and diplomatic means. Xi emphasized that a ceasefire is the top priority, urging Israel to halt attacks. According to Xinhua, Xi stated that armed force isn’t the solution to international disputes and parties to the conflict, especially Israel, should cease hostilities immediately. Last week, Putin held phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, offering himself as a peacemaker. The Kremlin said that Xi had spoken “in favour of such mediation, since he believes that it could serve to de-escalate the current situation”, Ushakov said. Putin told foreign journalists at a televised event that a deal to guarantee both Israel’s security and Iran’s desire for a civilian nuclear programme was possible. “I believe it would be good for all of us together to look for ways to stop the fighting and seek ways for the participants in the conflict to find an agreement.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei posted on X: “The very fact that the Zionist regime’s American friends have entered the scene and are saying such things is a sign of that regime’s weakness and inability.”

The Iranian foreign minister is expected to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Saturday, a Turkish foreign ministry source said on Thursday. The 51st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC will be hosted by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who will call for joint action against Israel’s “destabilising acts,” according to Foreign Ministry sources quoted by Turkish media. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a staunch critic of the Israeli administration, may also address the meeting. Arab League countries are also seeking an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict. Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will represent Pakistan at the 51st OIC FMs meeting.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he remains “profoundly alarmed” by the ongoing military escalation. “I reiterate my call for immediate de-escalation leading to a ceasefire,” Guterres said in a statement in which he strongly appealed against any further internationalization of the conflict. “Any additional military interventions could have enormous consequences, not only for those involved but for the whole region and for international peace and security at large,” he warned. The secretary-general stressed that “diplomacy remains the best and only way to address concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear programme and regional security issues.”

Meanwhile, Iraq’s top Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned against targeting Iran’s leadership and said that the Iran-Israel war could plunge the whole region into chaos. Sistani said that any targeting of Iran’s “supreme religious and political leadership” would have “dire consequences on the region”. He warned that such action could spark “widespread chaos that would exacerbate the suffering of its (the region’s) people and severely harm everyone’s interests”. Sistani urged the international community to “make every effort to end this unjust war and find a peaceful solution” to concerns about Iran´s nuclear programme. Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassem al-Araji also urged the European Union to exert pressure on Israel to stop the war, ahead of a meeting between Iran and European powers.

With warnings of all-out regional war intensifying, fears are growing over an intervention by Iran-backed Iraqi factions, mostly against American interests in the region. In Lebanon, Hezbollah warned against threatening Khamenei, describing it as “an act of recklessness and foolishness” that would have “grave consequences”.

Earlier, Israel’s defence minister warned that Iran’s supreme leader “can no longer be allowed to exist” after a hospital was hit in an Iranian missile strike. Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba was left in flames by a bombardment that Iran said targeted a military and intelligence base.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would “pay a heavy price” for the hospital strike. In a visit to the Soroka Medical Center, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the United States is “already helping a lot” in his country’s conflict with Iran. “They’re participating in the protection of the skies over Israel and its cities,” Netanyahu told CNN among a group of reporters. “I think it’s a remarkable cooperation.” Hospital director Shlomi Codish said 40 people were injured at the Soroka, where an evacuated surgical building was hit leaving smoke billowing.

Mohammad Hassan, a Pakistani student at the University of Tehran, described frightening scenes in Iran’s capital during the Israeli strikes. “Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles,” he told AFP after returning to Pakistan. “As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails.” Meanwhile, top US diplomat Marco Rubio is set meet his British counterpart for talks expected to focus on the conflict.

Israel said it had carried out dozens of fresh raids on Iranian targets overnight, including the partially built Arak nuclear reactor and a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

In a related development, Iranian news agency IRNA reported, Iranian armed forces to have successfully carried out the 14th wave of powerful combined attacks on strategic Israeli targets in the occupied territories. Iran fired more missiles at Israel, the Israeli military said, adding that “defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat.” Sirens sounded in the northern city of Haifa and its surroundings. Israel’s health ministry says at least 271 people were admitted to hospitals Thursday morning. Since Friday, more than 2,300 people in Israel have been hospitalised but most have been discharged, the ministry said.

According to semi-official Iranian news agency Fars, Iran’s defence system is “currently intercepting” Israeli drones over Tehran. Iran has issued a new threat to any “third party” thinking about getting involved in its conflict with Israel, threatening an “immediate” response. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, announced that the “confrontation with the enemy will continue, until the compensation is paid.” It said that Iran has plans in place for various scenarios. Without naming the US or any other country, the council said: “In the event of a third party’s intervention in this aggression, they will be confronted immediately according to a specific plan.”

Meanwhile, the US military has taken several steps to protect its assets and equipment in the Middle East, including evacuating all non-sheltered planes from its sprawling base in Qatar and moving US Navy ships stationed in Bahrain, two defence officials told CNN. Additionally, all of the US Navy ships that had been forward deployed at Naval Support Activity Bahrain left port earlier this week. It’s not clear where the planes and ships have been moved to during the heightened tensions.