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There will be “no talks” with the U.S. Iran’s nuclear program as long as Israel continues its military attack, the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today.
“The Americans have sent serious messages asking for serious talks. But we have no words for America,” Araghchi said in an interview posted by state broadcaster IRIB. He added that the U.S. was part of Israel’s “crimes” and “aggression” against Iran.
In a separate interview with the BBC, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, warned there would be “hell for the whole region,” if the U.S. joined Israel’s attacks on the Islamic Republic.
“This war is not America’s war,” Khatibzadeh told the British broadcaster. “But if they would like to get into this war, President Trump will be remembered forever for the war that is not his war.”
Reporting from Hong Kong
China has evacuated almost 300 citizens from Israel via land border crossings with Jordan and Egypt, the country’s embassy in Israel said in a statement today.
China also is also willing to play a “constructive role in restoring peace and stability in the Middle East as soon as possible,” Guo Jiakun, a foreign ministry spokesperson said at a regular briefing in Beijing today.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy had a meeting at the White House yesterday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
They discussed “how Iran must must make a deal to avoid a deepening conflict,” Lammy said in a statement. “A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution,” he added, referring to the deadline Trump has set for himself to make a decision on whether the U.S. will join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
Both he and Rubio said in their statements that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon. Rubio also had calls yesterday with his counterparts in Australia, Italy and France.
Lammy will be in the Swiss city of Geneva today to meet with the Iranian foreign minister as well as his French, German and European Union counterparts. “Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one,” he said.
Key buildings at Iran’s Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor were damaged in an Israeli attack yesterday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the distillation unit was among the buildings damaged at the reactor, which was still under construction. The Israeli military said it had targeted the reactor, which it said was capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium for use in nuclear weapons, to prevent it from being operationalized.
While there have been no radiological effects at the reactor or any of the other Iranian nuclear sites Israel has targeted, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi emphasized the nuclear safety and security risks of the conflict.
“There is a lot of nuclear material in Iran in different places, which means that the potential for a radiological accident with the dispersion in the atmosphere of radioactive materials and particles does exist,” he said.
Communication for Iranians has become patchy and increasingly difficult as the country suffers from a near-total internet blackout and cyberattacks from pro-Israeli groups that have hit Iran’s financial infrastructure.
“Iran has now been disconnected from the global internet for 36 hours,” Netblocks, an internet access monitoring website, said today. “Live metrics show national connectivity remains in the low few percent of ordinary levels,” it said.
Only a handful of users can connect to the internet, it said, and that too with a complicated VPN set up.
Iran also imposes strict regulations on journalists working there, who often operate in fear of reprisal. While broadcasting is allowed in Iran, it is controlled by the state.
Regime change in Iran “should be unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told NBC News’ British partner Sky News in an interview that aired today.
“Even talking about that should be unacceptable for everyone,” Peskov said, adding that “the situation is extremely tense and is dangerous not only for the region but globally.”
The Kremlin’s comments on its key ally and drone supplier in the region came amid growing calls for a new Iranian government by Israeli and U.S. officials.
While Peskov did not say what Russia would do if Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were killed, he said it would trigger action “from inside Iran.”
“It would lead to the birth of extremist moods inside Iran,” he said, adding that those talking about regime change “will open the Pandora’s box.”
Reporting from Erbil, Iraq
President Trump’s decision not to make a quick decision on strikes on Iran makes sense given the enormous risks to the U.S. of joining Israel in its war against Iran.
But in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region there was some regret that he had not acted more quickly.
A few hours before Trump’s announcement, the leader of a small Kurdish group told NBC News that people would rise up “if Iran is weakened.”
Hossein Panah Zadeh, head of a socialist nationalist PAK Party Azadi Kurdistan party, said American support for an uprising would be crucial. “We would want the U.S. to back us,” he added.
Israel has been openly advocating for regime change in neighboring Iran, which is also home to a large Kurdish population, many of whom have been fighting for regime change for decades.
Most recently, protests about Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died after being taken into police custody for not wearing a headscarf, were brutally repressed.
So while it is unlikely that Israel will not stop its attacks while Trump makes his decision, for the moment, at least one part of the opposition Iranian regime, will also bide its time.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed to Iranian state media that he will be meeting in Geneva today with his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and the E.U. as part of efforts to end the weeklong conflict between Israel and Iran.
Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will not attend, White House officials said.
“This is a meeting between European leaders and Iran,” a White House official told NBC News. “The president supports diplomatic efforts from our allies that could bring Iran closer to taking his deal.”
The Israeli Air Force and Navy have successfully intercepted hundreds of missiles launched toward the country, including more than 95% of those that were considered a danger to Israeli soil, Israeli military officials said.
Air Force and Navy units are “operating in close coordination with IDF aerial defense arrays, aircraft, missile ships, and other security personnel to defend the skies of the State of Israel around the clock,” according to the statement from officials.
In addition to the offensive to “degrade the Iranian regime’s firepower capabilities,” IDF soldiers are helping with interception efforts. Specifically, soldiers are working to intercept surface-to-surface missiles and drones that have been fired toward Israel and target “population centers and are aimed at hitting Israeli civilians,” the officials said.
Entire neighborhoods in Tehran are emptying out as Israel and Iran exchange barrages of missile and drone strikes. Those who remain in Iran’s capital are mostly staying indoors, residents told NBC News.
“Most people in my neighborhood have left their homes; shops are closed because no one wants to be in the streets. People are scared,” Sima, who lives in the wealthy district of Sa’adat Abad, in northern Tehran, told NBC News via WhatsApp.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 639 people in Iran during the weeklong conflict, The Associated Press reported. A spokesperson for the Iranian health ministry said Thursday that more than 2,500 people have been wounded. Twenty-four people in Israel have been killed by Iranian fire.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that residents of Tehran, a city of 10 million people, should evacuate immediately, but Sima, 35, is hopeful and has decided she’s not leaving.
Read the full story here.
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