Live Updates: Europe Pushes for De-escalation After Nearly 1 Week of War

Live Updates: Europe Pushes for De-escalation After Nearly 1 Week of War

Here’s the latest.

European officials are making a diplomatic push to de-escalate the conflict between Israel and Iran after nearly a week of deadly fighting, even as Israel’s defense minister warned on Thursday that the country’s military would intensify its strikes on “strategic targets” in Iran.

After days of back-channel discussions, the Europeans, who have been effectively sidelined since the war started, are now trying to exert what limited leverage they have as weapons suppliers or potential peacemakers to try to end the war.

At talks in Geneva on Friday, they are expected to urge the Iranians to return to negotiations, even as President Trump mulls the possibility of American military action against Iran. The meeting would be the first formal gathering between Iranian and Western officials since Israel began attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The diplomatic efforts came as the Israeli military launched a wave of strikes on Thursday against targets in Iran, including a nuclear complex. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said the country would step up its attacks on Iran to “remove the threats to the state of Israel,” after a barrage of Iranian missiles hit several locations, including a major hospital complex in southern Israel.

Shlomi Codish, the director general of the Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, said that the complex’s old surgical building had been directly hit, adding that the departments in the building had been evacuated in recent days. No one was killed, but the hospital was treating several patients for minor injuries. Rubble and shattered glass blanketed the surrounding area.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, claimed the attack “eliminated” an Israeli military command center, and said it had “caused superficial damage to a small section” of the hospital. Iranian officials offered no evidence for the claim that the country’s forces were targeting military facilities.

The threat from Mr. Katz came after the Israeli military launched a wave of attacks against targets in Iran, including nuclear sites.

The Israeli military said it struck a number of targets in Iran — including an inactive reactor at Arak, to prevent the site from producing material for nuclear weapons, and a nuclear production facility in the Natanz region. Iranian state media reported that Israeli warplanes struck the nuclear facility at Arak and said that there was no serious damage.

The latest exchange of fire came as uncertainty hung over the Middle East about whether or not Mr. Trump would send American forces to join Israel’s sweeping campaign against Iran’s nuclear program and military. “I have ideas as to what to do,” Mr. Trump said during an Oval Office event on Wednesday. He added, “I like to make a final decision one second before it’s due, you know, because things change.”

Here’s what else to know:

• Potential U.S. involvement: Israel has pressed Mr. Trump to use powerful American weapons to attack Iran’s underground nuclear sites, and the prospect of American involvement in the war has added to fears that it could spiral into a wider conflagration in the Middle East. The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned that the United States would suffer “irreparable” harm if it joined the Israeli campaign.
• Hospital attack: At the Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, melted plastic and burned wiring in the ruins of the building hit by an Iranian missile filled the air with a foul smell. The hospital said the building had been largely evacuated in recent days, and that it was treating several patients with minor injuries. It is the first Israeli hospital to be hit directly since the war with Iran began last Friday, the Israeli military said. Read more ›
• Missile interceptors: Israel has a world-leading missile interception system, but as the war drags on, Israel is firing interceptors faster than it can produce them. That has raised questions within the Israeli security establishment about whether the country will run low on air defense missiles before Iran uses up its ballistic arsenal, according to eight current and former officials.