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 on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, as US President Donald Trump continued to weigh US military involvement.
European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue, while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking.
Photo: AFP
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes,” he told reporters.
No date was set for the next round of talks.
French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday said that France and its European partners would ramp up talks with Iran to bring an end to avoid greater conflict.
“I am convinced that a path exists to end war and avoid even greater dangers,” Macron said in English on X after holding phone talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
They urged Iran to revive diplomatic efforts with the US to find a solution in the standoff over its nuclear program, but Tehran warned it could only consider diplomacy once Israel halted its bombardment.
“To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran,” he said.
However, Macron reiterated that “Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons.”
“It is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful,” he said.
Separately, Israel yesterday said that it has already set back Iran’s presumed nuclear program by at least two years
“According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar said in an interview published yesterday.
Saar said Israel’s week-long onslaught would continue.
“We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat,” he told German newspaper Bild.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Trump was dismissive of European diplomacy efforts.
“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this,” he said.
Trump also said he is unlikely to ask Israel to stop its attacks to get Iran back to the table.
“If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do,” he said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS