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European powers on Friday urged Iran to revive diplomatic efforts with the United States to find a solution in the standoff over its nuclear programme, but Tehran warned it could only consider diplomacy once Israel halted its bombardment of the Islamic republic.British, French, German and EU top diplomats held talks in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, giving diplomacy a chance one week after Israel started its bombardment.”The good result today is that we leave the room with the impression that the Iranian side is ready to further discuss all the important questions,” said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in a statement alongside his European counterparts.”It is of great importance that the United States takes part in these negotiations and the solution,” he added.The statements read by all four top diplomats in their native languages after the talks expressed hope of further progress but did not make any mention of a breakthrough.Araghchi, making his first trip outside Iran since the bombardment began, said Tehran was ready to “consider diplomacy” again only once Israel’s “aggression is stopped”.”In this regard I made it crystal clear that Iran’s defence capabilities are not negotiable,” he said.”We support the continuation of discussion… and express our readiness to meet again in the near future,” he said.- ‘Urgently find a solution’ -British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We are keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran, and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the United States.””This is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don’t see regional escalation of this conflict,” he added.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said there “can be no definitive solution through military means to the Iran nuclear problem. Military operations can delay it but they cannot eliminate it”.After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Barrot also warned: “It is illusory and dangerous to want to impose a regime change from the outside. It is up to the people to decide their own destiny.””We invited the Iranian minister to consider negotiations with all sides, including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes, which we also hope for,” he said.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas added: “Today the regional escalation benefits no-one. We must keep the discussions open.”Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said earlier the Iranian delegation “emphasised that Iran has not left the negotiating table”.Israel began its campaign on Friday last week saying the operation was aimed at halting Tehran from obtaining an atomic bomb, an ambition Iran denies having. Iran has in response launched strikes on Israel.The European ministers “expressed their view that all sides should refrain from taking steps which lead to further escalation in the region, and urgently find a negotiated solution to ensure that Iran never obtains or acquires a nuclear weapon,” they said in a joint written statement.bur-dt-ah-sjw/jj

At least 19 people were injured in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa as Iran fired a fresh barrage of missiles on Friday afternoon, authorities said. Iran has been launching daily missile salvos at Israel for the past week since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on its nuclear and military facilities triggered war.One projectile slammed into an area by the docks in Haifa on Friday afternoon where it damaged a building and blew out windows, littering the ground with rubble, AFP images showed.Israel’s foreign ministry said it struck “next to” the Al-Jarina mosque.The locations of missile strikes in Israel are subject to strict military censorship rules and are not always provided in detail to the public.   A spokesman for Haifa’s Rambam hospital said 19 people had been injured in the city, with one in a serious condition.A military official said that “approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel” in the latest Iranian salvo.More than 450 missiles have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones, according to Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate. The directorate added that the country’s tax authority had received over 25,000 claims linked to damage caused to buildings during the war.Israel launched a massive wave of strikes on June 13, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran.Residential areas in both countries have suffered, while Israel and Iran have traded accusations of targeting civilians.At least 25 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian missile strikes, according to authorities.Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It has not updated the toll since.

The US Supreme Court cleared the way on Friday for American victims of attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank to sue Palestinian authorities for damages in US courts.The court issued a unanimous 9-0 decision in a long-running case involving the jurisdiction of US federal courts to hear lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).Americans killed or injured in attacks in Israel or the West Bank or their relatives have filed a number of suits seeking damages.In one 2015 case, a jury awarded $655 million in damages and interest to US victims of attacks which took place in the early 2000s.Appeals courts had dismissed the suits on jurisdiction grounds.Congress passed a law in 2019 — the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (PSJVTA) — that would make the PLO and PA subject to US jurisdiction if they were found to have made payments to the relatives of persons who killed or injured Americans.Two lower courts ruled that the 2019 law was a violation of the due process rights of the Palestinian authorities under the US Constitution but the Supreme Court ruled on Friday to uphold it.”The PSJVTA reasonably ties the assertion of federal jurisdiction over the PLO and PA to conduct that involves the United States and implicates sensitive foreign policy matters within the prerogative of the political branches,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.The PA announced in February that it would end its system of payments to the families of those killed by Israel or held in Israeli prisons, responding to a long-standing request from Washington.In 2018, during his first term as US president, Donald Trump signed into law rules suspending financial assistance to the PA as long as it continued to pay benefits to Palestinians linked to “terrorist” entities, according to the criteria of the Israeli authorities.

Israel’s war against Iran, now in its second week, will be “prolonged”, military chief Eyal Zamir said Friday as the arch rivals traded fire and European powers held talks with the Islamic republic.”We must be ready for a prolonged campaign,” Zamir told Israelis in a video statement, eight days after his country launched a massive wave of strikes it said aimed at stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran has denied.”We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude,” said Zamir.”The campaign is not over. Although we have made significant achievements, difficult days still lie ahead.”Iran has responded with barrages of missiles and drones, which Israeli authorities say have killed at least 25 people.A hospital in the Israeli port of Haifa reported 19 injured, including one person in serious condition, after the latest Iranian salvo, which President Isaac Herzog said hit a mosque.Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people since June 13, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.As US President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of entering the war between the two foes, top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany were meeting with their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Friday.French President Emmanuel Macron said the Europeans were “putting a diplomatic solution on the table”.On the ground, Israel’s military said it struck missile launchers in southwestern Iran after overnight air raids on dozens of targets including what it called a “nuclear weapons project” research and development centre.In Israel, sirens sounded in the afternoon after missiles were launched from Iran for the second time on Friday, with a military official saying that “approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel”.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted military sites and air forces bases.- ‘Betrayal’ of diplomacy -Trump has said he will decide “within the next two weeks” whether to involve the United States in the fighting.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”.Western governments suspect Iran of seeking a nuclear weapons capability.The International Atomic Energy Agency said that while Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent, there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.”So, saying how long it would take for them, it would be pure speculation because we do not know whether there was somebody… secretly pursuing these activities,” the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi told CNN.”We haven’t seen that and we have to say it.”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.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 in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process,” he said.In an interview with German publication Bild, Israel’s top diplomat Gideon Saar said he did not “particularly” believe in diplomacy with Iran.”All diplomatic efforts so far have failed,” said Saar, whose country had supported Trump’s 2018 decision to abandon a previous nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.- ‘Madness’ -The UN Security Council convened on Friday for a second session on the conflict, which was requested by Iran with support from Russia, China and Pakistan, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday.The escalating confrontation is quickly reaching “the point of no return”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday, saying “this madness must end as soon as possible”.UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile pleaded with all sides to “give peace a chance”.Any US involvement in Israel’s campaign would be expected to involve the bombing of an  underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordo, using powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses.In Iran, people fleeing Israel’s attacks described frightening scenes and difficult living conditions, including food shortages.Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said authorities had restricted internet access to avoid “problems” like cyberattacks.Iranian authorities have arrested a European “who sought to spy on sensitive areas of the country”, Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.Protests were held in Tehran and other cities after Friday prayers, with demonstrators chanting slogans in support of their leaders, state television showed.”I will sacrifice my life for my leader,” read a protester’s banner, a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Switzerland announced it was temporarily closing its embassy in Tehran, adding that it would continue to fulfil its role representing US interests in Iran.burs-ser/ami/kir

Missiles fired from Iran on Friday left at least 19 people injured in the northern Israeli port of Haifa, a local hospital said, on the second week of war between the arch foes.Iran has been firing daily missile salvos at Israel for the past week, since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear installations and military bases triggered war.At least one projectile appeared to evade Israel’s air defences, slamming into an area by the docks of Haifa where it damaged a building and blew out windows, littering the nearby ground with rubble, AFP images showed.A spokesman for the city’s Rambam hospital said 19 people had been injured, with one in a serious condition.Earlier, Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service reported two people had been injured by falling shrapnel after the attack but did not specify the location.Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement that Haifa’s Al-Jarina mosque “was struck by an Iranian missile, injuring Muslim clerics and worshippers at prayer”.Foreign Minister Gideon Saar later shared a similar message on social media, adding that “the Iranian regime is targeting Muslim, Christian and Jewish civilians, as well as civilian sites. These are war crimes.”A military official said that “approximately 20 missiles were launched towards Israel” in the latest Iranian salvo.Around 20 minutes after the air raid sirens were activated, the army released a statement saying people were allowed to leave bomb shelters.Earlier Friday, sirens rang out in parts of the country following another Iranian missile launch.AFP footage showed police operating in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, alongside emergency response teams and bomb disposal expert.Security forces there inspected a crater near residential buildings, where the wreckage of charred cars lay below the mangled metal of destroyed balconies.The Soroka Hospital in the city was struck on Thursday, injuring 40 people.Israel, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, launched a massive wave of strikes on June 13, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran.Residential areas in both countries have suffered, while Israel and Iran have traded accusations of targeting civilians.At least 25 people have been killed in Israel by Iranian missile strikes, according to authorities.Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.

Iran’s foreign minister on Friday condemned the Israeli attacks against the Islamic republic as a “betrayal” of diplomatic efforts with the US, saying Tehran and Washington had been due to craft a “promising agreement” on the Iranian nuclear programme.”We were attacked in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva ahead of a crunch meeting with European foreign ministers.Araghchi, making his first trip abroad since the strikes began, denounced Israel’s attack as an “outrageous act of aggression”.US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had planned to meet Araghchi in Oman on June 15 but the meeting was cancelled after Israel began the strikes days before.”We were supposed to meet with the Americans on 15 June to craft a very promising agreement for peaceful resolution of the issues fabricated over our peaceful nuclear programme,” said Araghchi.”It was a betrayal of diplomacy and unprecedented blow to the foundations of international law,” he said.Israel began its campaign on Friday saying the operation was aimed at halting Tehran from obtaining an atomic bomb, an ambition Iran denies having.Iran said Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. It has not issued an updated toll since then.Iranian strikes launched in response have also caused damage in Israel, where at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, according to the government.Araghchi described the attacks by Israel as an “unjust war imposed on my people” that had killed “hundreds”.Pointing to the risk of radiation after strikes on atomic plants, he said: “Attacks on nuclear facilities are grave war crimes.””Iran rightfully expects each and everyone of you to stand for justice and rule of law,” he added.

Thousands of people rallied in Tehran, Baghdad and Beirut on Friday after weekly prayers to protest Israel’s strikes on Iran, chanting slogans against Israel and its main backer, the United States.Images on Iran’s state television showed protesters in Tehran holding up photographs of commanders killed since the start of the war, while others waved the flags of Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.”This is the Friday of the Iranian nation’s solidarity and resistance across the country,” the news anchor said.”I will sacrifice my life for my leader,” read a protester’s banner, referring to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.According to state television, protests took place in other cities around the country, including in Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south.Last week, Israel launched a blistering attack on Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate with barrages of missiles aimed at Israel.Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, the Imam leading Tehran’s prayers, told worshippers that Israel had attacked Iran out of “despair”, the official IRNA news agency reported.He accused Israel of launching a “psychological war” to “pit the people of the country against the government”.”Their plans were precise, but their calculations were laughable,” the Imam said.With warnings of all-out regional war intensifying, fears are growing over an intervention by Iran-backed Iraqi factions, who have threatened Washington’s interests in the region if it were to join Israel in its war against Iran. – ‘No right’ -In Iraq, thousands of supporters of powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr rallied after Friday prayers in Baghdad and other cities, AFP correspondents said.Sadr, who has previously criticised Tehran-backed Iraqi armed factions, retains a devoted following of millions among Iraq’s majority community of Shiite Muslims.”No to Israel! No to America!” chanted demonstrators gathered in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, the cleric’s stronghold in the capital.”It is an unjust war… Israel has no right” to hit Iran, said protester Abu Hussein.”Israel is not in it for the (Iranian) nuclear (programme). What Israel and the Americans want is to dominate the Middle East,” added the 54-year-old taxi driver.In the city of Kufa, protesters set fire to Israeli and American flags.Iraq is both a significant ally of Iran and a strategic partner of the United States.In Lebanon, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets in the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Men, women and children waved the flags of Iran, Hezbollah and Lebanon, with some holding pictures of Khamenei.”It is my duty to stand with (Iran) against the Zionist Israeli enemy,” said Adnan Zaytoun, 60.Hezbollah, which suffered heavy blows in its latest confrontation with Israel last year, has not expressed any intention to intervene militarily on Iran’s side.To supporters like Zaytoun, ‘”if anyone attacks us, we will defend ourselves, but we do not support war.”Fadel Saad, an 18-year-old student, “We are here to show the American and Israeli enemies that we are resilient and will not be defeated… even if they destroy our homes over our heads.”In Yemen’s capital Sanaa and other areas, tens of thousands of people gathered for protests organised by the Iran-backed Huthis, according to their official media outlets.burs/tgg-rh/jsa

Gaza’s civil defence agency said 31 Palestinian aid seekers were among at least 60 people killed Friday by Israeli forces, the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid distribution sites.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 26 others near a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisects the Palestinian territory.Thousands of Palestinians have gathered there daily in the hope of receiving food rations, as famine looms across Gaza after more than 20 months of war.The Israeli army told AFP that its troops in the Netzarim area had first fired “warning shots” at “suspects” approaching them.When the individuals continued advancing, “an aircraft struck and eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat,” the army said.Similar incidents have occurred in that area regularly since late May, when the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened its distribution centres, as Israel eased a two-month aid blocakde.The privately run foundation’s operations in Gaza have been marred by chaotic scenes. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.Elsewhere in the territory on Friday, Bassal said 14 people were killed in two separate strikes in and around the central city of Deir el-Balah, and 13 others in three Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City area.One of those strikes, which killed three people, hit a phone charging station in the city, Bassal said.In southern Gaza, two people were killed “by Israeli gunfire” in two separate incidents, he added.Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.The armed wing of Palestinian miliant group, Al-Quds Brigades, said on Friday it had targeted an Israeli military post in the southern city of Khan Yunis, claiming “dead and wounded” Israeli troops as a result.Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not comment.Much of Khan Yunis, like vast areas across Gaza, is under Israeli military evacuation orders.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said France and other European powers would make an offer to Iran of a comprehensive diplomatic solution to end the escalating conflict with Israel.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will later Friday meet Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva “to make a complete diplomatic and technical offer for negotiations,” Macron told reporters, adding that France and allies Germany and the UK were “putting a diplomatic solution on the table”.”Iran must show that it is willing to join the platform for negotiations we are putting on the table,” Macron said on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget outside the French capital.”It is essential to prioritise a return to substantive negotiations (with Iran) which include nuclear — to move to zero enrichment (by Iran of uranium) — ballistics, to limit Iranian capacities, and the financing of all the terrorist groups that destabilise the region,” Macron said.He said that the offer to be made by Barrot and his German and UK counterparts to Araghchi later Friday would have four aspects.The first would forsee a resumption of work by the UN atomic agency, with “the capacity to go to all the sites”, so that Iran moves to zero enrichment of uranium, Macron said.The second and third aspects would comprise oversight of Iran’s ballistics activities and how it finances proxies in the region, he added.The fourth would be the liberation of “hostages” by Iran, said Macron, referring to the foreigners jailed by the Islamic republic who include two French citizens.Macron said that “no-one should neglect the risk that an Iran with nuclear weapons would present”, adding that the Islamic republic presented an “existential risk” for Israel.But the French president also criticised the scope of the military action by Israel which has hit targets beyond nuclear and ballistics facilities.”I consider that strikes that hit civilian or energy facilities and hit civilian populations must absolutely stop. Nothing justifies this.”Macron also warned Israel that military action alone would not be sufficient to degrade the Iranian nuclear programme.”No one seriously thinks that this risk (posed by the Iranian atomic drive) can be responded to only through the operations that are currently underway,” he said.”There are facilities that are extremely well protected we do not know exactly where the uranium enriched to 60 percent is.”