Israel and Iran launch new strikes as new diplomatic effort takes shape

Israel and Iran have exchanged strikes a week into their war as Donald Trump considered US military involvement and new diplomatic efforts appeared to be under way.

The US president has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.

He said he will decide within two weeks whether the US military will be directly involved in the war given the “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi appeared to be heading to Geneva for meetings with the European Union’s top diplomat and counterparts from the UK, France and Germany.

But in an interview aired on Friday he said that “in the current situation, as the Zionist regime’s attacks continue, we are not seeking negotiations with anyone”.

“I believe that as a result of this resistance (by Iran), we will gradually see countries distancing themselves from the aggression carried out by the regime, and calls for ending this war have already begun, and they will only grow stronger,” he said, adding that Tehran considers “the Americans to be companions and collaborators of the Zionist regime”.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he met US secretary of state Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff at the White House to discuss the potential for a deal to cool the conflict.

Israel said it conducted air strikes into Friday morning in Iran with more than 60 aircraft hitting what it said were industrial sites to manufacture missiles.

It also said it hit the headquarters of Iran’s Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research, known by its acronym in Farsi, SPND. The US has linked the agency to alleged Iranian research and testing tied to the possible development of nuclear explosive devices.

Israeli air strikes reached into the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early on Friday, Iranian media reported.

The Israeli military had warned the public to flee the area around Rasht’s Industrial City, but with Iran’s internet shut off to the outside world, it is unclear how many people could see the message.

In Israel, paramedic service Magen David Adom said missiles struck a residential area in southern Israel, causing damage to buildings, including one six-storey building. Crews provided medical treatment to five people with minor injuries, it added.

Later on Friday, as Mr Araghchi’s plane approached Geneva, Israel’s military warned of more incoming Iranian missiles and air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

It comes a day after at least 80 patients and medical workers were wounded in a strike on the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

Israel’s defence minister threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the Iranian missile crashed into the hospital. Israel’s military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist”, said defence minister Israel Katz.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Mr Trump would “do what’s best for America”. Speaking from the rubble and shattered glass around the hospital, he added: “I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot.”

The war between Israel and Iran erupted on June 13 with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, senior generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.

Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel’s air defences, but at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds wounded.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons programme but has never acknowledged it.

The Israeli air campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran, a nuclear site in Isfahan and what the army assesses to be most of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers. The destruction of those launchers has contributed to the steady decline in Iranian attacks since the start of the conflict.