The air conflict between Israel and Iran enters the second week on Friday (20) and European authorities try to attract Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on possible US involvement would be made within two weeks.
Israel began attacking Iran last Friday (Thursday night, Brasília time), claiming that the goal was to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against Israel. The country says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Israeli air strikes killed 639 people in Iran, the human rights activist news agency said. Among the dead are the high military level and nuclear scientists.
Israel stated that at least two dozen Israeli civilians died in attacks on Iranian missiles.
Reuters could not independently verify the number of dead on either side.
Israel targets nuclear installations and missile abilities, but also seeks to destroy the government of supreme leader Ayatola Ali Khamenei, according to western and regional authorities.
“Are we aiming at the fall of the regime? This may be a result, but it is up to the Iranian people to get up for their freedom,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (19).
Iran said it is attacking military and defense facilities in Israel, but also hit a hospital and other civil facilities.
Israel accused Iran on Thursday of deliberately dispersing civil lucky bombs by a large area.
Iran’s mission in the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Together with the European Union’s head of foreign policy, they should meet in Geneva with Iran’s Foreign Minister to try to calm the conflict on Friday.
“Now is the time to end the serious scenarios in the Middle East and avoid a regional escalation that would not benefit anyone,” said British Foreign Minister David Lammy, before his joint meeting with Araqchi Abbas, Iran’s Foreign Minister.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned Israel and agreed that distension is necessary, Kremlin said on Thursday.
The role of the United States, in turn, remains uncertain.
On Thursday in Washington, Lammy met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, and said they discussed a possible deal.
Witkoff has talked to Araqchi several times since last week, according to sources. Trump, in turn, alternated between threatening Tehran and urging him to resume nuclear negotiations, suspended due to the conflict.
“Bunker Destroyer”, capable of destroying underground nuclear facilities. The White House said on Thursday that Trump would decide in the next two weeks to get involved in the war.
This may not be a definitive term. Trump often uses “two weeks” as a deadline for making decisions and allows other economic and diplomatic deadlines to be extended.
With the Islamic Republic facing one of its greatest external threats since the 1979 revolution, any direct challenge to its 46 -year -old government would probably require some form of popular revolt.
But activists involved in previous protests say they are not willing to trigger mass agitation, even against a system they hate, with their nation under attack.
“How can people go to the streets? In such horrible circumstances, people are focused only on saving themselves, their families, their countrymen and even their pets,” said Athena Daemi, a prominent activist who spent six years in prison before leaving Iran.
