Donald Trump has given a two-week window to decide whether the United States will join Israel’s war with Iran, allowing time for a potential diplomatic resolution. The move follows provocative comments from Israel’s defence minister, who openly called for regime change in Tehran and elimination of Iran's supreme leader.
Defence minister Israel Katz said Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “can no longer be allowed to exist” after an Iranian missile struck Soroka hospital in southern Israel. “ However, Israel itself has repeatedly attacked hospitals in Gaza, justifying the strikes by claiming they were used by Hamas militants.
Amid rising regional tensions, foreign ministers from the UK, France, and Germany are due to meet Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi in Geneva on Friday, hoping to revive diplomatic efforts around Iran’s nuclear programme. British foreign secretary David Lammy, after talks with his US counterpart Marco Rubio on Thursday, said the next two weeks were critical to “prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one”.
Israel has intensified its direct strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Its latest attacks targeted the Arak heavy water reactor and the Natanz enrichment facility. Iranian state television said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” at Arak, adding that the site had been evacuated before the strikes.
According to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, a week of Israeli attacks on Iran has killed at least 657 people and injured over 2,000. The group identified 263 civilians and 164 members of the security forces among the dead. Iran has not issued consistent casualty updates and has downplayed the toll, with its last official figure on Monday listing 224 deaths and 1,277 wounded.
In Israel, around 240 people were injured by Iranian missile strikes on Thursday morning, according to the Associated Press. The Israeli health ministry reported that four were seriously wounded.
In a separate development, Iran accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of acting as a “partner” in what it described as Israel’s war of aggression. Prior to the current conflict, the UN nuclear watchdog had accused Iran of failing to meet its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation agreement.
Adding to international concern, Iraq’s most senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, warned against any attempt to target Iran’s leadership. He cautioned that such a move could destabilise the entire region. “Any targeting of Iran’s supreme religious and political leadership would have dire consequences on the region,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
Meanwhile, violence in Gaza continues unabated. At least 30 Palestinians were killed on Thursday after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians near the Netzarim axis in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera, citing sources at al-Awda hospital in Deir al-Balah. The previous day, Israeli strikes killed at least 72 people, including 21 gathered at food distribution points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif posted disturbing footage showing the bodies of children strewn across the streets following an Israeli attack on makeshift shelters near Gaza City.
BBC reported that at least 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire near aid distribution sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to get food from the GHF sites, opened by Israel after it partially lifted a three-month blockade that the UN said had pushed the Gazan population to the brink of starvation.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said: "Israel's means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza."
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, he accused Israel of weaponising food and repeated his call for a full investigation into the attacks near the sites. UN agencies have refused to work with the GHF.
On several previous occasions the IDF has acknowledged that its troops opened fire near aid sites.
